Green Eyed Monster
by Jomorox
Summary: Darcy is interested in Elizabeth Bennet even though he knows he shouldn't be, yet why she is spending more time with someone else, someone named Bingley? Modern P and P,with a new Character, lots of plot twists and one very jealous Darcy. Complete!
1. Never thought I'd be here

**This is my first fic that's not a one shot and may contain elements from my one shot. I've always thought that although there was Wickham, Collins, and his cousin Darcy didn't have anyone in particular to be jealous of. He's not there for a lot of Wickham/ Lizzie scenes, she doesn't like Collins and she could never actually marry his cousin because of the money issues. I've read a few regency ones that involve another male character but as I don't think I could write one so this is modern. **

**It starts at Netherfield but will include flashbacks. Not the best first chapter but it does get better. I'm afraid the first few chapters may seem slightly cliché but I'll try to improve.**

**Sorry for mistakes. Don't own.**

**Chapter One- Never thought I'd be here**

Lizzie sighed and pushed her hand through her still slightly damp hair. Looking around at the high arched ceiling and the fire place she couldn't believe she was sitting here. Still it was all for Jane...

_Lizzie yawned and stretched as she stepped out of the bath; wrapping her towel around her she bent down and blew out the candles that were on the side when the phone rang._

"_Perfect bloody timing," she muttered to herself. She thought that she had left the answer phone on but as the phone kept ringing she obviously hadn't._

"_Hello?" she answered towel still wrapped around her, hair dripping wet falling past the phone._

"_Hi, is this Elizabeth Bennet?" asked a nervous male voice that sounded a lot like Charlie Bingley._

"_Charlie?"_

"_Oh, Lizzie thank god it's you. Um I was just going to tell you about Jane."_

"_What about Jane?"Her voice was panicked. Calm down Lizzie she scolded herself you don't know anything's happened yet._

"_We'll about half an hour after she arrived she said that she felt funny and then the next minute she fainted."_

_Lizzie gasped her mind was now running through a whole series of different scenarios. Jane fainting and falling down the stairs. Jane fainting and landing on broken glass. Jane fainting and landing in the pool (Wait, did they have a pool?). And then the real issue, the one she didn't want to get to. Why had Jane fainted?_

"_She's ok she says. It's just that when she fell she hit her head and I don't really think that she should be driving so she's going to stay the night. I just thought you should know."_

"_Has she seen the doctor? Is she definitely ok or is that just what she's telling you to tell me? Can I speak to her?"_

"_Um well," Charlie felt awkward. "She already went to bed, she said she felt exhausted."_

_Lizzie frowned worriedly and bit her lip._

"_Darcys done several first aid courses and said that she seemed ok- she really didn't want any fuss. She seems ok- I promise you, Lizzie."_

_Despite the reassurance in his voice Lizzie immediately started to panic and had manically got dressed grabbing stuff and shoving it in a bag. As she grabbed her keys she went to her filing system and grabbed a folder full of paper and documents. _

Right might as well stop being a chicken, Lizzie scolded herself and join Charlie and the rest of them downstairs in the Living room.

Downstairs meanwhile the occupants were talking about a certain Bennet girl, the one who was awake and the one who they considered not worth their time unlike her older sister.

"Did you see the way she looked," Caroline Bingley, Charlie's youngest and bitchiest sibling laughed with her sister Clare. "I mean really why would you allow yourself out like that?"

"I know," Clare responded. "Doesn't she realise that people will see her?"

The two continued to make catty comments about her appearance and giggling whilst Charlie sighed and ran his fingers through his messy dishwater blonde hair. Hurst (as he was known) who was Clare's rather useless husband was snoring gently on the sofa. Will Darcy, who yes had unfortunately insulted her when he had first met Lizzie Bennet at that damned work event but wasn't so sure that his opinion had been right, was frowning at the girls' comments. If anyone asked he could pretend it was his book, Joseph Heller's Catch 22. The book's language wasn't incredibly difficult to read but the plot was rather confusing.

Charlie who clearly didn't know what to do with himself especially as he didn't want to her all these comments about Lizzie and her family who, he secretly hoped would soon become his girlfriend's family. Despite the situation he was glad that Jane was here.

Lizzie walked down the corridor and gently pushed on the bedroom door where Jane was sleeping. She had woken for about an hour or two just after Lizzie had arrived and she was groggy. Lizzie had made her take something to help her sleep knowing that if she didn't she would just be constantly waking up in the middle of the night. There was no point in checking on her but she couldn't help it. As she pushed on the door her eye caught a piece of paper that was lying on the floor.

She picked it up and recognized the neat small handwriting.

"_Lizziebear I'm fine! Now I'm telling you as your bossy big sister stop worrying! It's not good for either of us. _

_Love Janneykins. _Lizzie smiled at the nickname they had used when they were younger.

_p.s you should go downstairs and be sociable. If anything it'll help with your writing._

She shook her head and sighed. That was so typical of Jane, always reassuring although in some way it made Lizzie worry even more. She had been like that when they had spoken earlier.

"_Lizzie, what are you doing here?" Jane sat up in bed. _

_Lizzie wasn't sure what to say, she wasn't sure she could speak right now so instead leapt forward and hugged her sister._

"_I'm fine, Lizzie really I am. I know what you were thinking but it's not that I promise you. I haven't eaten much today, I was excited and I just had my period. It's probably a result of the two. _

"_But, Charlie said you've been feeling tired."_

"_And? Haven't you? We've both been rushing around lately."_

"_Fine, but can we go through the questions and the forms? Not right now, if you don't want but definitely later. And I definitely think that we should get you a doctor's appointment." When Jane looked like she was about to protest Lizzie became sterner. "You didn't last time."_

She knew her sister was right and that maybe she might worry less if she was being sociable so she closed the door carefully and made her way downstairs. Darcy who had just returned from the toilet met her in the hallway.

"Hi," she said awkwardly.

"Hello," he paused then turned towards her, "your sister ok?" wow, she thought sarcastically, a four word sentence from you, and aimed at little old me, the jobless floozie who didn't really know how to pick out a dress?

"She seems to be that way. I think that she just needs to sleep it off."

"Good." He answered and turned back to the room where the others were.

"God could you actually expand a little" she thought to herself rolling her eyes as she followed him. She could already hear Jane telling her to give them a chance.

"Lizzie, how's Jane?" Charlie bounded up to her very enthusiastically making her instantly smile.

It was so hard to believe that he was the CEO of the main company that owned the smaller sister version that Jane was in charge of running. The cynical part of her believed that he seemed too good to be true. They had all met at a large party to celebrate another small company joining the group. Lizzie was invited because she often temped at the office and was very good at organising the events and as she wasn't working had assisted Jane in organising the party.

It turned out that Jane had met Charlie before at a big board meeting and was excited to meet him again. As was he. Hurst who was lower down in the main company was there at this initial meeting along with Caroline who didn't really have a purpose but when she needed money was given a made up title of being in charge of Creative control despite the fact that all three companies had an Arts Editor and a Creative Manager. This was all the little scraps of information that Jane had been able to gather. As far as she knew Clare Hurst didn't work.

"She's sleeping now but I think that she's ok. I can normally tell."

"How?" this rather brusque question came from Darcy who was sitting on a chair in a corner.

"Well she's my sister. I know her." Lizzie was surprised that someone who should obviously be fairly intelligent could question such an obvious question.

"Lizzie you need to sit down, you must be exhausted, Jane told me how busy you were today." Charlie ushered her over to the sofa next to Darcy's chair. "Can we get you anything to eat? I mean we already ate but I'm sure there's something."

"It's fine." She smiled. She hadn't eaten yet but wasn't hungry. She smiled again thinking what Jane would say at her being a hypocrite.

"Well we could play a game? I mean the t.v's out we seem to have had problems recently. I guess with all the moving in and re-organising things there must be stuff that needs sorting. We had a power cut last week."

Charlie and his sister Caroline had arrived from Australia about a month ago. The family was English but the company was possibly expanding to Australia and so they had gone over there to see potential problems.

"It's ok, Charlie I've got a book. You really don't need to entertain me."

"You prefer a book to socialising?" Caroline asked raising her eyebrows raised. "How odd."

Lizzie felt herself getting annoyed. "No, I just feel like I am getting a headache so would prefer to be quiet."

She didn't actually say it but Darcy could feel that in her loaded sentence that the cause behind her headache was now looking at her disdainfully.

"What are you reading? Jane mentioned you were a fan of the classic and had been from an early age. Pride and Prejudice is your favourite, isn't it?"

"Ooh really Mr Bingley just how much have you been talking about me? I mean I know I'm fascinating and all but seriously?"

He smiled at her teasing manner whilst Darcy wondered whether it was appropriate for her to be teasing someone she barely knew and also why she wasn't comfortable enough to tease him. Maybe, he chastised himself, if you actually talked to her more and stopped scowling then she might. But, his mind debated it's not as if you're going to become friends with this women. Really you are a Darcy you know.

"No," Charlie let out a soft laugh. "We passed a book shop on our way back from lunch one day and Jane said she had to pick something up for you."

Without realising it Charlie had just released some very interesting information to the only two people in the room who were listening as Caroline and Clare were flicking through magazines. Lizzie was excited; if Jane was having lunch with this guy then it must mean that she liked him especially (and others had always found it strange) if she wasn't telling Lizzie. After all, she had been known to be very judgemental and protective over Jane. Will however, paused annoyed as he really didn't want to go through this all again. Just because she was blonde.

"Actually, I'm reading the book that she bought me. It's one of my favourites but I lent it to a friend and never got it back. Catch 22." She held up the exact same even with the same cover that Darcy had in his hand and showed it to them.

Aha, thought Will and then realising how he sounded even in his head, now I have an opening.

"_This_ is one of your favourite books?" he held up his own copy.

"Yeah," she was annoyed that she actually shared something in common with the great proud Darcy.

"Really, you don't feel that he is making light of a very serious issue? It's only known because it's not like anything else, anything conventional."

"I don't think it's that light a book. Besides I feel that we make light of things that we can't really understand. If we couldn't laugh, we couldn't react to a lot of life. Bill Watterson."

"You feel that we can't really understand war?"

"No, nor should we have to."

"Let me get this straight. You don't believe in war? You would have just left Hitler get on with it?"

"No of course not," she snapped back. "But, if you check your history you'll find that it was the horrific condition that the rest of the world left Germany in after the First World War that caused some of these actions. Besides the book is about Americans bombing places. Can you really defend Hiroshima?"

"They did what we had to do to win the war."

"At what cost?" she snapped back. "People there are still suffering the effects of radiation poisoning."

"Just how old are you Ms Bennet?" she leaned back in her seat surprised at his sudden change in conversation and the rudeness of his question.

"I'm sorry?" she looked at Charlie frowning.

"Darce, c'mon mate you can't ask that sort of question." He attempted to shrug Darcy away. Jane had mentioned casually that Lizzie could be quite scary when she wanted to be and he didn't really want to see that.

"I was just saying that Ms Bennet seems to have a rather naive view of how the world works but that this may be due to her age and the fact that she hasn't had that many experiences in life. Then of course her view is more excusable."

"Excuse me! Ms Bennet is actually sitting right here. And let me guess, my opinion doesn't matter because it's not the same as yours?" Lizzie was really annoyed by now and was chanting in her head. "Jane, Jane, Jane, remember her and Charlie. He's nice at least."

Caroline who had now become interested in the conversations as she had heard the raised voices.

"I don't know why you're so offended Eliza. You can't be more than twenty seven, and with your education your opinion can't be fully developed.

Charlie winced and immediately mouthed "sorry" at her along with "I'll talk to her" but at this point Lizzie was too angry to care.

"Actually, Caroline, I'm twenty two and I think that because my headache seems to be getting so much worse I'm going to go to bed now. Night Charlie." She got up and walked out of the room without so much as a backwards glance.

The moment he was sure that he was sure that she was out of ear shot Charlie turned to the two angry (or at least as angry as Charlie could manage), "Just what exactly is wrong with the two of you? Lizzie is a guest."

"Yeah one who invited herself," Caroline muttered just loud enough for them to hear.

Charlie sighed and wondered if he should say more but knew it wouldn't do much good.

"She'll get over it; meanwhile I'm going to bed." Caroline sauntered off.

Clare went with her and as Hurst was already asleep Darcy and Charlie decided to go into the games room and play pool. As Darcy managed to sink yet another ball Charlie decided to bring up an awkward topic.

"You know when I was a boy, there was this girl Amanda Rigby who had the most amazing blonde curly hair right down her back. And, so because I liked her I pushed her over in the playground and she grazed her knee and cried. You know what that shows?"

"That you liked blondes aged six."

"No, that boys will always be mean to the girls they like."

"What exactly," Darcy had put down his cue and turned towards him pronouncing every world clearly and precisely, "is your point, Charles?"

"That you like Lizzie."

Darcy was surprised; it wasn't as if Charlie was known for being very observant.

"Please, Elizabeth Bennet? God no. I actually have standards."

"Really, so what was Lucinda?"

Darcy shuddered, "A drunken mistake."

"Definitely. So you really don't like Lizzie then?"

"I'm sure that under better circumstances she could be a decent human being but no, in no way that you are insinuating do I like Lizzie."

"Oh that's good then." Charlie said with such as large smile of relief that Will immediately knew he was right. If Charlie who was one of his least snobby acquaintances thought that she wasn't right, then she definitely wasn't right. "it's just I was thinking of setting her up with someone. Well not a set up as such as we really don't know her that well but if they met and hit it off it would be really great."

"Oh, who?" he said feigning nonchalance but secretly annoyed. Charlie was going to set her up with someone else? Even if Will was saying he wasn't interested why did Charlie presume that they wouldn't work? Why wasn't he pestering Will to give it a shot? Maybe because he knows that it wouldn't work with two such different backgrounds or maybe said a small voice further back in his head your personality would make it not work.

"Chris," Charlie's voice was muffled as he leant over to take a shot. "I mean I can see them being perfect together."

"Sure," Will yawned. "Do you mind if we finish this in the morning?"

"No problem."

The two climbed the stairs and went into their separate bedrooms but Charlie turned to him.

"By the way I put Lizzie in the room next to yours. The wall's fairly thin you might want to be careful."

"Why that room?"

"Oh the other bedroom's really draughty and Caroline dumped a whole bunch of clothes on the bed. Why, is it an issue?"

"It's just the two have an adjoining bathroom. It might have been awkward that's all."

"Oh, yes I remember Caroline petitioning quite hard to get that room. At least until she saw the size of the other one."

"I can't believe that you gave your sister the master bedroom in your house."

"Like you wouldn't have done the same for Georgy."

"Sure, night."

He shut his door and let out a sigh. Why did it bother him who he was sharing a bathroom with. It was highly unlikely she would even need to use it. He undressed redressed in his pyjamas but as he was climbing into bed the last thing he saw before he closed his eyes was Elizabeth Bennet's bright brown eyes staring at him in astonishment.

Lizzie Bennet couldn't sleep. She also had no idea what time it was and it was annoying her. She had definitely drifted off for a couple of hours but now she was restless. There was a little light coming in from the window, it over looked a side gate that had an outdoor light that Charlie hadn't figured out how to turn off yet. She rolled over and closed her eyes as if willing herself to sleep.

Will Darcy couldn't sleep either. He knew he had that business meeting coming up, the one with Roger Blackwell and he wasn't totally prepared. He needed also to ring Alison Reynolds about Pemberley, he hadn't been there in so long. Thinking of Pemberley made him think of Georgy, of course he knew he had been forgetting something. She had emailed him earlier and he needed to reply. He sat up half out of bed before he looked at the time. Georgy would worry if she saw that he had sent her an email at three o' clock in the morning. He could do a better job later in the day. He picked up his book and began to read wondering if his first impression had been wrong.

Lizzie frowned, there it was again she had definitely heard that noise again.

"Stop it your being paranoid" she chastised herself when she had a louder sound coming just from her right where the window was. Turning, slightly she could almost make a figure out behind the darkness, through the curtains.

"Oh my god," she was beginning to panic and knew that so said out loud. "Just relax"

If there was someone coming through the window they were probably just a burglar. Nobody was going to murder of rape her. Darcy was next door and Charlie down the corridor.

"C'mon Lizzie, you're in a better position than you would be at home."

But, wait, this was a big expensive house, what if the burglars who robbed these types of houses carried knives or guns?

Slowly, carefully she slid the heavy ornate candlestick of the bedside table. Charlie had told her when the power cut had happened they had been totally unprepared so he had left a few candles and things around just in case. Well, she was definitely grateful now.

She was running through in her mind all those tips she had been taught years ago. She had never thought that she would need them. Never thought that she would be in this sort of situation.

Always remember to SING. What did that stand for? Shin, Instep, Nose, Groin. Right, yes that was it.

If you're going to punch anyone keep your thumb out- or was it in?

Most importantly noise is the thing the attacker fears most.

This was the final thought running through her mind as she heard the window being lifted up and a foot swinging in and slipping on the floor. At the moment she opened her mouth wide and let out the largest scream she possibly could.

**Duh, Duh, Du!! Please Review...**


	2. Knight in shining pyjamas?

**So I'm back! I may not always update this quickly but cliff hangers are annoying and I get to introduce you to my new character. I didn't mention this before but there will probably be some swearing in this story. Sorry for mistakes.**

Chapter Two- Knight in shining pyjamas?

From the moment Lizzie screamed several things began to happen at once.

Jane who thought she heard a noise but was exceptionally drugged up on night nurse rolled over in her sleep.

Charlie sat bolt up in his bed and hurried towards Lizzie's bedroom tying his dressing gown and putting his slippers on.

Clare sat up in bed and turned in disgust to her husband whose snoring pattern hadn't even changed.

Caroline thought about going back to bed but then realised this was a rare chance to show Darcy what he was missing, by him seeing her in her rather revealing bed wear without seeming inappropriate and crept slowly out of her door.

The man halfway through the window fell onto the floor and said "fuck!"

However these events did not happen in this order. The first thing that happened was that the moment Will Darcy heard the scream he was out of his room almost tearing the door off his hinges. He had heard a scream like that before. It was a scream of pure terror. It was a scream where the screamer could barely get the courage to scream and so there was an air of triumph that they had managed to do so.

He was already in the door and urgently asking "What's wrong, what's happened?" when he noticed where her gaze was directed.

He fumbled and flicked the light switch. It flicked for a moment and then came on.

"Bloody hell!" exclaimed Clare who had arrived at the door first. "What are you doing here?"

"Nice to see you too sis," the man said sarcastically as he picked himself up off the floor.

"Shit, Chris?" Charlie had arrived with at the door along with Caroline who looked far too primped up to have been sleeping comfortably.

"Who else would turn up at three in the morning and climb through a window?" Caroline was disdainful now that the excitement had died out. She looked around her at Lizzie who was still clutching the candlestick. "Were you trying to attack my brother?"

"Oh, sorry," she was nervous now with them all standing around her whilst she was in her pyjamas and bed. She placed the candlestick down and winced as it clunked against the dresser.

"Don't worry she's done it plenty of times," this strange man who the others seemed to be addressing as Chris was starring straight at her. "See this," he was rolling up her trouser leg to show a long white scar, "She did that when I was fifteen."

"Ignore everything he says, he got that on a rock climbing trip with school when he was being an idiot," said a now grinning Charlie who leapt at his brother and gave a manly back patting hug. "This," he turned to Lizzie, "is my little brother, Christopher." He turned to him in mock sternness, "Who I'm sure has a fascinating reason as to why he woke us all up at three am."

"Not really, forgot the key you sent me and didn't want to wake everyone up so thought I would creep in the one window I was sure no one would be sleeping in. Guess I was wrong," he turned to Lizzie with a sheepish green that she couldn't help but respond to.

As all the Bingleys had pushed themselves into the room Chris hadn't noticed the fact that Will was standing in the corner scowling. After what Darcy had thought had happened and the argument that had taken place between him and Lizzie he was hoping that he would get to be the knight in shining armour and punch someone. Now he was just the idiot in...

"Donald duck pyjamas? Really Darce?" Chris was laughing. "I would have thought you were more the Armani type.

"Georgy gave them to me," he muttered ducking his head.

"Well there better than some I've seen," Chris muttered not exactly looking at Caroline whose cleavage was not exactly covered.

Lizzie immediately felt awkward and crossed her arms across her chest trying to disguise the fact that she wasn't wearing a bra.

"Oh I didn't mean you!" Chris was embarrassed. "I try not to insult people I haven't actually met yet."

'Well that makes him different from at least two members of this room' Lizzie thought.

"Oh yes this is Elizabeth Bennet. She's staying with us whilst her sister Jane is getting better. Jane came for dinner and fainted so we decided she should stay the night." Charlie attempted to make introductions.

The moment he mentioned Jane, Lizzie began to worry. She ought to go and check on them.

"I'm just going to check on Jane," she muttered glad to be getting out of the room where there situation seemed to be getting more awkward by the minute.

Jane was slightly awake but Lizzie spent a couple of minutes of calming her and just watching her sleep.

Next door the Bingleys were discussing what to do. It turned out Chris had also arrived with a large duffel bag which he dragged through the window after leaving it hanging on the trellis and the intention of staying at least two weeks.

Clare who knew what her brother was like and wasn't all that excited to see him went back to bed. Darcy was about to return when the other started arguing about where Chris would sleep.

"Surely the solution's very obvious." Said Caroline, "He can have this room. How long are you planning on gracing us with your company this time, Christopher?"

"Surely as your older brother I get unlimited time with you, Caro darling?" he leaned into her and fluffed up her hair as she squirmed away from him.

"I guess it would make sense for you to have this room." Charlie agreed.

"What about Elizabeth?" said Darcy dryly.

"Oh um well I guess if she stays in here and you can share with me tonight or take the sofa."

"Please, she can take the sofa and you have this room. You're family."

At this point Lizzie was standing at the door having overheard this last comment, but only Christopher who was standing at the right angle to see the landing knew that she had overheard.

"How about I share with Jane." She walked into the room, "Just let me grab my stuff and I'll be out of your room."

"Please, Elizabeth my dear, I naturally assumed that you and I would share a bed. After all, we are on first name terms you know," this joking suggestion made Darcy scowl. He felt that he should have offered that. Not that he would ever suggest they share a bed but as a gentleman he could have offered up his room. Also why was she ok with jokes like that coming from a strange man who had just climbed through her window?

"I only sleep with a man thirty minutes after meeting him if he's at least somewhat attractive, sorry" she shrugged her shoulders and picked up her bag to go to Jane's room.

The moment she was out of the door, Caroline turned to them, "I knew she was a slut! You were right about her all along, Darcy."

There was an awkward pause and the group quickly said goodnight. Chris couldn't help but ponder who these Bennet sisters were and what sort of impact they had made on his family.

Lizzie still couldn't sleep. Even when she felt she might be able to sleep she was either listening to Jane's breathing or worrying that someone else would come through the window. At four thirty she decided there was no point anymore in trying to so decided to go downstairs and get herself a drink after putting a bra and jumper on over her pyjamas.

She stumbled downstairs in the dark, not wanting to turn any lights on in case she woke anyone but when she passed the living room door she saw that someone else was already sitting there.

"Hello?"

"Hi, Elizabeth right?" it was Christopher

"Lizzie."

"Do you want a drink? I was just about to make some hot chocolate."

"Thanks that would be great. You couldn't sleep either huh?"

"No and it's probably my fault that you can't anyway. Charlie's happy to see me now but he will probably berate me later on. I'm presuming you're not Caroline's friend otherwise I already would have been yelled at."

She chuckled softly, "No, I don't really know your sister that well."

"Lucky you." He muttered and noticed her blush.

"Older or younger?"

"Younger. It goes Charlie, Clare then me and finally Caroline the spoilt baby of the family and the bitchiest."

Lizzie was quite sure how she was supposed to deal with such a frank statement from a virtual stranger so merely said, "Wow, all C's. Your parent's didn't think any other initials would work?"

Chris smiled. He liked the fact that she hadn't agreed with him yet she was smart enough to not contradict him.

About an hour and a half later Lizzie had decided that Chris was definitely her favourite member of the Bingley family and apart from Jane her favourite person in this house. Charlie was a close second. He wasn't snobbish or rude and he actually managed to have some personality. She had found herself telling him all about what she did, Jane and their childhood, what she would like to do and where she would like to go. Chris, it turned out had travelled extensively and was in charge of overseas operations with the company even though he described himself as "not exactly the suit type". They had similar taste on books, films and music yet not enough that they couldn't disagree and debate something which both loved. They had just got round to discussing G. which had been on television the other night.

"I'm just saying that although I agree with you that there is something unnatural about seeing a woman being beaten up there is still this terrible stereotype that women can't defend themselves and need protecting and I don't think that is true."

"So you've never had the fantasy of a knight in shining armour coming to rescue you and then being so insanely jealous that he punches someone else because he just has to defend your honour?"

She let out a small laugh and smiled, "Hasn't every girl?"

"Elizabeth I'm appalled! Call yourself a feminist? Also if you want that how can you be so against this supposed stereotype? I mean didn't you really live up to it earlier- with that scream?"

"Would you rather I had wacked you over the head with the candlestick?"

"Definitely. The bruises I would have got from those silver elephants would have horrified my mother. It would have been hilarious the next time I saw her. Made a great story."

"I can go get the candlestick and hit you over the head if you would like but I really don't feel it's the best idea. And why do you feel that it would make a great story? Unless you like terrifying everyone?"

"I mean can you imagine if we got married. Instead of the first time we met being some boring work event or a set up; I would have been the guy who climbed through your window and you could have been the girl who hit me over the head. Cute and far more interesting."

"You've known me two hours and you're already proposing?"

"Well you're the one who wouldn't sleep with me. A man's got to try. Anyway all joking aside I scared you didn't I when I climbed through the window?"

Lizzie didn't respond, not wanting to admit to it.

"I would have been if I were you," Chris continued pushing her as he did feel very guilty. "And I'm guessing you don't normally have heavy silver candlesticks next to your bed or a house full of men, unless my sister was right about you and your reputation."

She shrugged again feeling at once like a young girl in a difficult situation.

"I can help you know. I actually know a little self defence; I could teach you some."

"Now?"

He hadn't really been planning it but instead he said, "sure, I'm wide awake now."

It was twenty minutes later when Will Darcy came downstairs deciding that six o' clock was a respectable hour in which to begin work that he heard strange noises coming from the work. Unlike the others he had changed out of his pyjamas into a pair of smartish brown trousers and a blue jumper. When he pushed slightly on the door to investigate the noises he caught the pair in a very odd position that made his eyes narrow.

Chris was standing behind Lizzie with his right arm up at her neck and his left arm around her waist constricting her arm movements. He was whispering something in her ear and... Darcy blinked... they were both in their pyjamas. Not knowing what to with himself but knowing that he should do something Darcy was shocked when she suddenly stomped down on Chris's foot and turned attempting to slam her fist up and lifting her knee up to a certain area. He should help her but it was so hard to believe that Chris was the bad guy here. It was probably the result of her hot temper and her education. If a girl was going to survive in those types of schools (he shuddered) she would probably learn how to survive.

He coughed.

They both turned surprised.

"Hey, Darce. I was just teaching Lizzie here some self defence."

Oh, so that was what it was. He knew Chris was telling the truth. He had seen first hand experience of Chris teaching someone self defence. He knew it helped.

"Is the bathroom free? I was going to have a shower; I just didn't want to wake you?"

"Yeah, sure."

Lizzie left the room after thanking Chris leaving a strange situation for the two men. It wasn't weird or awkward just strange.

"So how are you? It's been a while."

"Yeah it certainly has. I've been busy but in a good way. So's Georgy."

"Yeah, she emailed me recently."

The conversation didn't last long for which both participants were grateful as Charlie came stumbling down the stairs.

"God, Chris," he yawned. "Do you know what time it is?" He opened his eyes fully. "Oh, Darcy might have known you'd be up."

"Yeah well I was talking to Lizzie. She couldn't sleep either. You know she's a really great girl. You really lucked out there. You better be careful and hold onto her or I may just steal her."

Charlie blushed and gave a small laugh. "She's not mine," he paused realising what he sounded like. "I mean I'm not dating her and I'm not interested in her in that way so you should just go ahead."

Darcy scowled but then remembered that he wasn't supposed to and realistically couldn't be interested in her and readjusted his eyebrows.

"So, who are you interested in? The sister? What was her name- Jane or something?"

"Yeah Jane. She's amazing I can't wait for you to meet her properly. She's so sweet and loving." Charlie knew he was gushing but he couldn't help it and a small smile slipped from his lips.

"Darcy, what do you think of her?"

"She seems very nice." Chris was no longer surprised after all the years he had known him at his responses to questions.

The two Bingley brothers went upstairs to change and shower and Darcy started on his work emails. Charlie was the first one downstairs followed by Lizzie.

"I was thinking that when Jane's awake we should probably get going back home."

"You can stay longer you know at least for breakfast."

"I think it'll have to be longer than that." Chris walked into the room with an annoyed scowl on his face as he clicked his phone shut. "The roads are icy and dangerous. They think it's going to snow soon or possibly a thunderstorm. Police are telling people not to drive. My friend was supposed to drop my bike and other stuff off today. Charlie I may need to borrow some clothes."

"I'm sure the roads can't be too bad. It's better if we leave early I guess." As soon as she got out of here the better.

"I really don't think that's the best idea Lizzie," Charlie wanted Jane to stay longer; he hadn't spent any time with her considering how she had been ill.

"Lizzie, I'm disappointed. Do you really want to get away from me that much, that you would risk your health? And Jane's?" Chris sidled over to her and put his arm around her shoulder.

She snorted. "It's scary that you know me so well that you realise that you can use my sister to guilt me into staying. Charlie you're probably right; we'll go as soon as the roads are clear. Sorry."

Charlie just smiled, "It's fine, happy to have you. Is there anything you need?"

"Actually I was wondering if I could check my email. I may need stuff to be rearranged."

"Sure, my laptop's in the study. I'll just go get it for you."

He returned moments later and as she was waiting for it to load up she heard Caroline, Clare and Hurst coming down the stairs.

"Oh Eliza dear, we just heard Jane getting up. She said she'd been down soon"

Jane was down in a few minutes later and the group began to discuss what they should do for the day as no one could go anywhere. Her stomach began to rumble and Lizzie realised that she had eaten anything for ages. Chris was clearly thinking the same thing.

"Right, Breakfast! I am the pancake genius around here but I'm going to need some help. I'm thinking major feast."

"We have staff to do that you know Christopher." Caroline pointed out snidely.

"And how are they supposed to get in with the weather- besides we really don't need them. This is not the 18th century; we are allowed to see the kitchen now. Food tastes better when you cook it yourself."

"I'll help." Lizzie jumped up pushing the laptop aside for it to be picked up by Jane.

"You haven't lived until you've had Lizzie's chocolate pancakes." Jane recommended.

"I personally wouldn't be caught dead in a kitchen. Such a useless skill in the twenty first century what with all the great restaurants there are. If you can afford them. And there's no way I'm eating chocolate. I don't if there's the letter R in the month" Caroline again, her last sentence very proud.

"You two need any help?" Darcy had stood up. Lizzie glanced at Chris. She wasn't sure she wanted to deal with his surliness when she could be having fun joking with Chris.

"Sure that'll be useful." She turned to Chris in surprise. Jane was about to stand up but Lizzie told her that her help wasn't needed and urged her to rest.

When she stepped into the kitchen she was amazed. She had always liked cooking but her kitchen was very small and cramped. This was a very modern spacey design that looked like no one had ever even got a glass of water from the chrome taps.

"Oooh Coffee!" she ran to the side and poured herself a mug. "Do you want some?"

"Thanks, don't bother about Darcy he tries to avoid the stuff."

She had forgotten that he had followed them. "Why?"

"Do you know what that stuff will do to your insides? Caffeine is the most addictive substance in the world. I only have it when I need it."

She nodded and didn't know how to respond.

"So where did you learn to cook? I wouldn't have pegged either of you for the type."

"They type?" Darcy asked.

"Well you know. You both probably grew up with your own personal chef. Why would you need to learn?"

"Just because someone doesn't need to learn something doesn't stop them."

"Actually," said Chris hastily seeing the tension. "I did it to pick up woman. Apparently a man that can cook is a huge turn on."

Darcy gave a small polite forced laugh but even that amazed Lizzie. "Really Georgy was never that impressed. I guess from all those times at the beginning when I got it wrong and she had to eat pasta with a steak knife."

"Who's Georgy? Your girlfriend?" Lizzie couldn't imagine him with a girlfriend, maybe because he was too self important and stuck up his arse.

"My sister." He had a smile on his face that made him seem human for a moment but from the tone she knew that he wouldn't want more questions asked.

"Oh and speaking of which, thank god you said you'd help after Caroline had turned me down. I'm not sure I could deal with her fawning all over you," Chris was standing at the massive fridge pulling out various items. It seemed as though he had changed the subject very swiftly. "Right, Lizzie if you make your chocolate pancakes, Darce can you do omelettes? I'll get some fruit and do some bacon, scrambled eggs etcetera.

"I can make some regular pancakes at the same time for Caroline or whoever."

"Wow you obviously haven't known her long if you think that you'll be able to please her. The only person's whose managed to never be on her bad side is Darcy here."

"So, the two of you aren't close?" Lizzie asked turning as she began separating the eggs.

"No, I'm too flaky for her. Refused to play her whole society game and she can't understand or accept that. I'm closer with Clare even after the whole Hurst business."

Lizzie nodded, he had this explained to her before. Clare Bingley had always been overlooked, she wasn't as pretty or ambitious as Caroline, as likeable or easygoing as Charlie, or as entertaining or intelligent as Christopher. In any other family this might not have been that big a deal but she stuck out like a sore thumb in theirs and a lot of people noticed and commented on it. So, she did they only thing available to her and married young. That way she had a higher status than her sister and if she had children would always be recognisable as a mother. Unfortunately the man she married was very often a drunken idiot. Chris knew he had one affair and quite a few one night stands but he also knew that his sister was so insecure that she would never leave the man.

After a glare from Darcy that Chris didn't understand he decided to turn the radio on. Darcy stepped out of the room. The announcer announced that they were now going to play a Neil Diamond song and Chris turned the volume up as the opening chords of Forever in Blue Jeans began.

"Neil Diamond fan are you?"

"Of course, all the best people are. You?"

"Yeah, well my Dad was a big fan and he introduced me."

They were both singing when Darcy returned to the kitchen after checking who wanted what and pausing in the doorway he had to admit that they looked good together. Besides, what did he care? He wasn't interested in Lizzie and if Chris met someone he liked then that was good. Wasn't it?

When Lizzie went to help set the table with Jane and Charlie, Chris turned to him.

"What was that glare for?"

"Sorry?"

"The glare you gave me when Lizzie and I were talking."

"Oh it was nothing I was thinking of something else. Sorry. But, you know you might want to be careful about how much you tell a person you barely know. I'm sure Clare wouldn't want everyone to know about the state of her marriage."

"Please anyone with half a brain and eyes can tell. Besides you really think Lizzie's going to use it against me? Why? You have to learn to trust people."

Darcy sighed but knew Chris was right. After all wasn't that what Georgy, Charlie and several of his colleagues were always telling him.

**I love Chris! He's like the big brother I never had. Have been having some trouble with the next chapter so any suggestions would be great. I also think cute nightwear makes Darcy slightly more human.**


	3. Good news, Bad news, National News

**I meant to say this last time but Thank you to everyone who reviewed. I don't really reply to all of them unless you have a specific question but I really loved getting them all. **

There is no such thing as bad weather- only different sorts of good weather.

There is no such thing as bad weather only inappropriate clothing. German Proverbs.

Chapter 3- Good news, bad news, national news.

"Lizzie," Jane grabbed her as she was stepping out of the kitchen. "Have you checked your email?"

"No."

"Well you should. Definitely. Trust me." She swept off into the room where they were eating.

"Jane, what's going on?" Lizzie called after attempting to catch her.

"Excuse me Bennet. Are you going to let us do all the work?" Chris also stepped out of the kitchen.

"Of course. Look I'll help you in a second. I just need to sort something."

She stepped into the living room and when she found the laptop began flicking through her email. Darcy, who could see her from the utility room where the dishwasher was because of the way the house was arranged saw her face go into this terrific smile but then, as she opened up a new email saw it fall as she counted on her fingers and sighed.

She returned to the kitchen and began to carry dishes through. He wanted to ask her what had happened but knew that if he did she would think he was spying on her.

Breakfast was awkward enough but passed quickly enough. Everyone went off into their own groups. Hurst was shovelling his food, Charlie and Jane were talking quietly leaning into each other, Caroline and Clare were gossiping with Caroline occasionally trying to catch the attention of Darcy who was either watching Charlie and Jane or Lizzie and Chris who were having an animated conversation about something that he couldn't quite hear.

"All I'm saying is that digital is so much easier and cheaper." Chris was arguing.

"Yes and it's cold and mechanic. How many of those pictures do you print out?"

"Some, only the best thing is I don't have to pay to print out pictures that are blurry with my thumb half across them. And I can upload them to my computer and share them twice as easily."

"Yes but you lose all the magic when you're looking at them through a screen. And I know at least two people who have lost all the pictures when their computers have crashed."

"If people aren't going to back up their documents then it can't be helped. Do you realise how old you sound?" He started mimicking a high pitched wailing voice, "Oh we shouldn't be moving on and forward because progress is such a bad thing. Everything was so much better in the olden days when the average life expectancy was 45 and one in five woman died giving birth."

"I am not that bad," she protested. "It's just that some things should be changed to make them easier and some shouldn't and photography is one of them. Nobody should try and reorganize art"

"Art? All you do is point and click."

"Now that's all you do. But before you had to line up your shot, set you shutter speed and make sure all the dials are ready. Do you know that even the slightest thing like breathing can jog the camera and ruin the photo?"

"You're as bad as Darcy you know."

Darcy, who had been trying to listen into their conversation, although he would never admit it, looked up.

"Are you talking about me?"

"I was just saying that Lizzie here is as bad as you when it comes to clinging onto the past."

As they were talking across the table the others stopped their conversations to join in.

"Oh yes," agreed Jane, "Lizzie's always been like that. She's always watching old films. What was that one that you were watching the other day?"

"All about Eve. It's a classic! Bette Davis won an Oscar for it."

"I don't stick to the past." Darcy was annoyed by this statement; it made him seem old fashioned and out dated.

"Yes you do Darce," Charles laughed. "I mean what about your fountain pen? You always carry it around practically having a heart attack if anyone dare suggest you sign something important with a biro. And what about you and books?"

"I don't know what you mean Charles."

"Yes you do! When was the last time you bought a paper back? Never, probably it always has to be a hardback first edition if it's going to maintain Darcy standards."

"My library is over three hundred years old. If I'm going to keep stocking it, I may as well not waste my money on books that aren't going to last."

"Wow, I can just imagine us owning a library. I don't think I'd ever get Lizzie out of it."

"Have you not seen the one here?" Charlie turned to Jane with a large smile. "Chris has been trying to stock up ever since we moved in. He's always buying books, he's a bit like Darcy I guess."

"You had practically nothing when I was here the other week." Chris accused.

"We had only moved in for a week and it was really busy especially with Christmas and the company."

"I'd love to see it," Lizzie joined in. "See what I think of your taste."

Chris nodded and Jane turned her gaze away from Charlie and said, "She won't approve you know. Lizzie always believes that you can tell almost everything about a person by what they read. But then she says that about almost everything."

Caroline who felt that not enough of this conversation was focused on her interrupted, "The library here is nothing of course compared to Pemberley. Now that is a truly amazing house. If only you had taste like that Charles."

"Pemberley?" Both of the Bennet girls were confused.

"Darcy's home." Chris answered.

"Wow, that's so cool to name your house; we should do that with the apartment Jane," Lizzie laughed.

The breakfast continued without any drama or interesting topic of conversation. As both sisters and the men apart from Hurst were helping to clear the table, Chris offered to show the two girls around the house. Charlie immediately agreed to go with them and as he wanted to ask Darcy who had only arrived a few days ago some questions about adjustments that he should make. Chris who overheard this conversation mentally frowned at his brother. Why was that he couldn't do anything by himself?

"So Lizzie," he said as they stood outside an ornate heavy mahogany door. "Are you excited? This," he pushed on the door, "is the library."

She laughed and walked into the room. She stared; she had never seen so many books in someone's house.

"Wow, this is amazing."

"You know Darcy's library's at least twice the size." Charlie offered.

She turned round to face him with such an amazing smile on her lips that Darcy felt immensely proud of his library, far more so than whenever someone had actually complimented it.

After walking around for several minutes gazing at the shelves and occasionally pulling out the odd random book, Chris looked at the others, "I think we may need to sedate her to get her out of here."

"Oh sorry," she blushed.

"Look Lizzie," Jane had picked up a bright orange book that had been lying on a side table.

Lizzie smiled awkwardly.

"I've just finished reading that. It's really good. I'm sure you'll love it. I lend it to you." Chris offered.

"Really, I wasn't so sure about it." Darcy frowned, coming over to the table to look at the book. "Georgy loved it and went on and on about it but it seemed slightly pretentious to me. You know, written by someone just trying to get it published as this new artsy book. I didn't really agree with some of the philosophies."

"I haven't heard of it," Charlie who had been standing next to Jane picked it up and turned it over in his hands. "Whose it by?"

Jane just smiled at this question causing them all apart from Lizzie to look at her curiously.

"E. J.M Bennet. A relation?"

"You could say that. Turn the cover over." Jane took a step over to him.

"Bloody hell!" Chris who was peering over Charlie's shoulder and he looked up at Lizzie in amazement.

"It's Lizzie," Charlie turned to Jane amazed and then looked over a Lizzie who was standing awkwardly by a chair near the fireplace.

"What?" Darcy grabbed the book from him and looked at the picture of the smiling brunette woman with deep dark eyes that made him feel that they were looking right at him and burning into him. When he looked up he found the same bright eyes staring at him with a very amused smile on his face.

'Don't apologise' he told himself, 'if you apologise she'll know that it was just because of what you said and that you don't really mean it.' He was especially annoyed as he had been hoping that if he had an opinion on something then maybe she would take him seriously or debate with like she was always doing with Christopher. Instead he just looked like an idiot and had managed to insult her again. And now his first insult which he hadn't meant for her to overhear meant nothing as it turned out she did have a proper job and must obviously be fairly good if everything he heard about getting published was true.

Chris was asking her all these questions and Charlie was listening in. Jane, who knew all these details, was wondering round the room looking at some of the portraits that had been left when Charlie had first moved in. Darcy decided to read the paragraph of information that was written underneath the photo.

_E.J.M Bennet was born Elizabeth Josephine Marie Bennet (because her parents couldn't decide on one name) on the 28__th__ January1986 in the small town of Hertfordshire. She has wanted to be a writer ever since she was six when she realised that her dream of being the first woman on the moon would probably not happened as she couldn't stand riding in lifts and hated science. The Potential of Fear is her first novel and she currently lives in London with her older sister Jane. She was awarded most interesting new comer by the Galaxy book awards. To find out more contacting the email printed on the back cover. _

Darcy turned to the first page where the dedication was.

_This book is dedicated to my wonderful big sister Jane. I know it sounds cliché but this book wouldn't have happened without you. But then it probably wouldn't have happened without our primary school headmistress or all those times we had to watch Doctor Who with the Daleks. Both of which terrified me._

He smiled; he too had known plenty of scary teachers. He looked back at the information about her and realised that her birthday was coming up.

"So when was it published?" Chris was asking.

"Um about sixteen months ago."

"Are you writing anything else?"

"Well a bit but it's in a lot of parts. I'm sorry but I don't like sharing details at this stage."

"Oh come on Lizzie, you're so modest! They want to publish her second book. She got an email this morning." Jane seemed very proud of her sister which showed Darcy that she could show a real emotion, even if she hadn't to anyone else yet.

"Really?" Chris was excited; Lizzie embarrassed.

"They've just expressed interest, it's not the same."

Charlie had picked up the book and was reading the description, "It's your birthday soon!"

"Yeah in three days."

"Really what are you doing?" Chris asked.

"Not sure. Anyway how about you stop questioning me and show me the rest of the house."

Chris led them out of the room from a different door and led them into the ballroom.

"You have a ballroom?"

"Yep. Can you dance?"

"Of course."

The overall tour took about an hour and the house amazed both girls. They passed the dining room

"_Where did we have breakfast then?"_

"_The Breakfast room"_

And both sisters raised their eyebrows at each other. They showed the drawing room, the study and the games room before going up the grand sweeping staircase. There were eight bedrooms one of which had previously been a nursery which made Jane pause for far too long Darcy thought. There was also a study upstairs which Charlie informed them that they were going to make a permanent study whilst the one day downstairs would be an entertainment/junk room. Chris noticed that he only did this after he had glanced at Darcy as if checking.

Whilst in the study, Lizzie on seeing the massive flat screen television asked if they could check up on the news- to hopefully get more information about driving conditions. Charlie flicked it onto rolling news 24.

"And now for the weather information. The snow is still bad in the south east area spreading up to London. Conditions are extremely icy and are expected to continue to be so for the rest of tonight and possibly tomorrow morning. Police are urging people not to drive unless it is absolutely essential and even then please stick to main roads that will have been gritted. The emergency services also ask that people only ring if it is a true emergency as the services are very stretched today"

Charlie clicked the power off. "I guess that means you'll be staying tonight as well."

Darcy tried not to frown, he knew that they had no control over the weather and it would be stupid for them to drive home if it wasn't safe but he wished that they weren't here. There was definitely something about Elizabeth Bennet, something different. This fact annoyed him no end.

"I don't suppose this will affect the airports for next week?" Lizzie asked.

Jane turned to her confused. "Why?"

"Didn't you read the other email? Fate has decided to give me the best possible birthday present ever. Not. Collins is coming."

"What? He's not staying with us. Is he?"

"No of course not. Well as long as I have a say in it. He does want to catch up though and you know what that means. He's here for a week. How am I going to survive?"

"Whose Collins?" Chris asked.

"Nigel Collins. He lived near us when we were growing up. Always fancied himself in love with Lizzie. Used to follow her around all the time sprouting poetry."

Charlie looked as though he might laugh and Lizzie turned to him pointing her finger at him, "Don't. You're not the one who came in from your lecture to find him in nothing but his underwear on your bed with a bunch of roses. Jake had only just asked me out. That relationship didn't exactly last long."

"Hey, you know I could always pretend to be your boyfriend. Scare him off. Or we could have a scenario like we were talking about earlier. Fisticuffs and all that." Chris offered.

"Depending on how desperate I get I may take you up on that. And trust me this is nothing like the scenario we were talking about earlier."

Darcy realised that this must have been the email that had caused the smile to fall off her face although he was running through his mind as where he had heard the name Nigel Collins before. Nope, he shook his head he couldn't think of anywhere. It must have been one of those weird déjà vu feelings.

"You should just stay as busy as possible during the week. I could say that there was something planned for your birthday and that might give you a couple of evenings and during the day I guess I can look at work to see if we need anyone, " Jane offered.

"I could do the same," Charlie agreed quickly though it was more for Jane's benefit than Lizzie's. "I think one of the assistants went into premature labour the other week and her replacement broke her leg. We'd actually be quite happy for someone like you to take her place for maybe a couple of weeks. You're probably over qualified but it's fairly easy."

"No that sound great. " Lizzie hadn't written much since her second book had finished and maybe working a regular nine to five job would provide her with some inspiration.

"And I thought that you were going to give that job to me." Chris put on a mock hurt expression, "Can't you just imagine me in a skirt and high heels running around fetching coffee."

"I don't need to imagine it. I was woken up by you when you came in at four o clock in the morning from the Rocky Horror Picture Show. You were also in a very fetching purple wig, in case you were too drunk to remember."

They all laughed apart from Darcy who merely smiled.

"You woke him up at four in the morning? Is this a regular event for you?" Lizzie asked.

He linked his arm in hers and led her down the stairs but when they reached the landing that had a large bay window looking out they both paused.

"It's a good thing you didn't try to drive home in that."

The snow was falling thick and fast and there was already a thick layer on the fields that surrounded the manor. Looking up the sky was a golden colour with clouds full of snow.

"We should have a snowball fight!" Lizzie had to laugh and the childlike excitement that was I Chris's voice.

"I really don't think that's the best idea. It's very cold out and probably quite dangerous especially as not all of us have the right clothes. Besides, if I'm not going to be able to get in to work for a couple days I really ought to make some arrangements. Charles you should probably do the same. I mean snowball fights are rather juvenile."

Darcy turned off into the downstairs study and Chris raised his eyebrows at Lizzie and pulled a face and they both tried not to laugh. Jane gave her sister a glare as if trying to keep her in order but then a small smile slipped from her lips.

"Well I think that I'm going to have a snowball fight," Charlie agreed. "They said on the radio that this is the first time it's snowed like this in England in twenty years."

"Sounds like fun but Darcy was right we don't have the proper clothes." Jane was as practical as ever.

"You've got coats. We've probably got some thicker ones in the wardrobe in the spare room like ski jackets and we're bound to have gloves, hats and scarves. If you get too cold we'll light a fire and I'll turn the hot water on. We might as well have a little fun. That is" Charlie paused turning hesitantly towards Jane, "if you're feeling ok?"

"I'm fine."

The girls went back upstairs and changed taking twice as long as they actually needed as they were mainly catching up particularly about the others opinion of the men in the house.

"So...what do you think of Chris?"

"What do _you_ think of Charlie?"

"Typical Lizzie can't answer a question without asking another. I like Charlie. You know that. He's very nice and friendly and welcoming."

"You _like_ Charlie? Like, like like. Or just like?" Lizzie was sceptical given the soppy look on Jane's face.

"Fine maybe I like him more than just _like _but well..." she trailed off.

"You need to know how he feels."

Jane didn't exactly answer but blushed and turned her head away from Lizzie's gaze. She then decided to employ one of Lizzie's favourite tactics of avoidance and asked,

"So, you haven't answered me. What do you think of Chris?"

"He's very nice."

"Puh-lease Lizzie." She held up her hands and made a quotation mark, "nice is a non-descript word."

"Fine," she huffed, "he's really nice."

"And?" Jane prompted.

"And he's pretty great and attractive and friendly."

"And, you could see the two of you going somewhere?"

"Yes, no, maybe? I don't know. You know I was never very good at that whole fortune teller business. Something about my inner eye being clouded."

"Oh Lizzie," Jane leapt forward to hug her. "That's so great. You haven't dated anyone properly in so long! You two will be so great together!"

"Jane, you're gushing. I haven't even known him twenty four hours."

"Yes but you're already get along so well. You just need to be careful that you don't fall into that whole friends trap."

"Right, sure." She gave a coy smile, "Still if Charlie's already taken I'll stick with Chris. I mean really what exactly is Darcy's problem?"

"He was just critical of your book. He's probably very stressed right now, Charlie told me he works ridiculous hours and he's pretty much the boss of his company with no-one else he can really dump it on."

"Because that gives him the right to look down on everyone else, does it?."

"Are you sure, you aren't just judging him on that first time he met you? For all we know this weekend could be really awkward for him. Charles told me that both his parents were dead and he has a younger sister that he's had to care for since he was sixteen. It's been really hard for him."

"Ok, ok enough with the Darcy sympathy wagon.

Whilst the women were talking about them upstairs the men were having a similar conversation downstairs. Chris and Charlie were putting on various layers whilst Darcy watched them whilst typing from his laptop. Caroline, Clare and Hurst had all declined on joining them.

"Seriously Darcy," Charlie turned towards him, "do you never think before you open your mouth? I can't believe that you've only properly met the woman on two occasions yet you continue to insult her."

"Charles just because I have an opinion and express it doesn't make me in the wrong." He continued to type.

"Continue? You've insulted her before, then?" Chris asked.

Darcy didn't respond.

"Before he had even met her. She overheard him talking about her."

"Great first impression."

"This coming from the man who climbed through her window in the middle of the night," Darcy was getting more and more annoyed.

"_Lizzie!" I haven't seen you in so long. Darcy watched as a middle aged blonde(ish) woman with a bad dye job hugged a young brunette_

_Lizzie smiled at Samantha Green who was one of the more senior secretaries in Jane's building and basically in charge considering how she had been there longer than anyone. _

"_You know we're going to need you back soon. That filing system you setup is getting pretty crazy now and I don't know how we survived before."_

_The two continued to exchange pleasantries for a while and then Samantha left to say hello to others and Lizzie scoped out the rest of the room. _

_She smiled as she saw Jane dancing with a tall rather handsome man who Samantha had told her was the head of the company, a Charles Bingley._

"_Very nice young man too."_

_The band (which she had booked; after the original had cancelled due to food poisoning) announced that they were going on a break and she could see Jane coming over._

"_Lizzie, hey," she seemed breathless with excitement. "You went with the green dress! You look great. Sorry I wasn't there to help you get ready it's just I was so busy. I also can't really stay much longer. You know how it is I've got to go socialise."_

"_Ok, start talking fairly loudly about home if you need rescuing." The two sisters had always had a code for surviving these types of events. After all they had got through worse family gatherings as children. _

_She had just been talking to a close friend of both her and Jane, Louise when she saw Charles and a rather attractive man standing by the bar. She wondered if she would get to meet him. Part of her wanted to check to see if all the hype was true and he was good enough for Jane. She wasn't actually listening into their conversation but it did help a lot with her writing and it had been so tempting._

"_Darcy, you can't spend the whole night sulking in the corner."_

"_I am not sulking Charlie. That makes me sound like a pathetic toddler who didn't get his way. Just because I choose not to dance, like you."_

"_Or talk to people, make jokes, listen or even smile and stop glaring at everyone. Besides, why wouldn't I dance? Dancing is the best compliment a person can pay to a party and I get to dance with an absolute angel."_

"_So why would you want to compliment this party?" his voice was disdainful as he wondered just how much alcohol Charlie had had. _

"_This is a great party! Everyone's having such a good time. I'll introduce you to someone. Jane's sister's around here somewhere. She helped organise this. Apparently she doesn't work at the company but helps out."_

"_So, basically she's some jobless floozie who has to rely on her sister when she needs money and her sister lets her even though from the looks of this party she can't even manage the most basic tasks that most could handle in their sleep."_

"_Darcy! Shh, she's over there."_

_Lizzie ducked her head and turned away as she their gazes on her._

"_Well I wouldn't want to dance with her anyway. She looks pretty average who doesn't really know how to pick out a dress._

_Lizzie huffed. She couldn't believe the man! Charles had told him that she was standing there and he hadn't made any attempt to lower his voice .Average Looking? Jobless floozie? Who the hell was this man? _

_Still, she might as well use it to have a little fun. Jane came up to her a few minutes later wanting to introduce her to Charlie now that she had managed next to talk to everyone she needed to. _

"_Lizzie, this is Charles Bingley. He runs the main company. This is Lizzie."_

_They smiled at each other and shook hands. _

"_This is my good friend William Darcy. He owns Darcy Corporations."_

"_Oh I've heard of that. Didn't someone from the Apprentice come from there?" Jane asked._

"_Really I don't think I've heard of it. But, then what would I know? What with me being a jobless floozie and all whose probably too average looking to get a real job." She turned and walked away emphasising her hips as she went._

"And I thought that my first meeting with her was bad!" Chris exclaimed. 

**Please Review it would help me greatly. **


	4. snow is fun for a whilebut seriously?

**Not my favourite chapter took me ages to write and very slow moving so I'm sorry about that. Had a horribly exhausting week going back to school so... I also realised that I hadn't really described the characters well, so this chapter includes that. It's basically a bit of filler and boredom.**

_Disclaimer- still am not from the 18__th__ century so don't own_

Chapter Four- Snow is fun for a while but... Seriously?

Darcy sighed as he heard another squeal as a snowball hit Jane and laughter from Chris and Lizzie. Moments later he jumped as a snowball hit the window and rattled the glass. Maybe he should go out and join them....

"So immature aren't they?" Caroline had joined him in the room and was standing a little too close for comfort. He nodded, annoyed with himself. It always bothered him whenever he agreed with Caroline and it seemed to be happening more and more at the moment.

He couldn't go out to join them as much as he had loved snow when he was a boy; he had work to do and was a grown up now. He smiled to himself at something he remembered his Uncle had said to him after his father had died and he had to make his first major decision with the company. "Grownups don't say grown up, we say adult." There were days when he still didn't feel like an adult, still didn't feel old enough to be doing all this but there were also days when he didn't want to, didn't want to have all this responsibility and could just go out and have fun in the snow.

She stayed in the room and stood a little too close for comfort looking at his email over his shoulder when they heard the back door crash open.

"I'm soaked!" that sounded like Lizzie's voice. Then there was a sudden scream of surprise.

They both stared at each other with curious looks on their face.

"Chris, you can't put ice down my back! We're indoors." She broke off and sneezed violently.

"Lizzie, don't get ill. We'll just get out of these wet things. We should probably have something hot to drink. I'll make us hot chocolate in a moment." Jane sounded concerned.

"It's ok I'll do that now. You girls go change." Charlie was the ever the gentleman.

Caroline, realising that Darcy was not really responding to her sloped off to watch television with Clare and he carried on attempting to answer his email but not really as focused as he should be.

Minutes later he heard two pairs of footsteps coming down the stairs and someone sneezing. He decided that as he wasn't get work done there was no point in pretending, and that hot chocolate sounded really good.

"Thanks," he walked into the kitchen to discover Lizzie with a towel wrapped round her hair and bright red cheeks excepting a mug from Charlie. He too picked one up from the counter. He was about to ask who had won the fight when they heard a scream of frustration from next door.

"Charlie!" Caroline was wailing, "Charlie, the t.v won't work!"

"The snow must be upsetting the satellite. You'll only be able to get one, two, three or four. You can always watch a video or dvd."

Lizzie raised her eyebrows as there was another scream of annoyance but didn't say anything. Chris sighed, "You realise she's going to be hell all afternoon. She's missing The Hills."

Everyone paused awkwardly, Jane and Lizzie with dripping wet hair and still shivering slightly.

"Do you have a hairdryer?" Lizzie asked having removed the towel and feeling her hair.

Chris showed Jane and Lizzie upstairs and Charlie turned to Darcy.

"What do you think of Jane? Isn't she great? I was thinking of asking her to the annual ball next week."

"As a senior member of the company she'll probably get her own invitation." Darcy knew better than to encourage him in his new infatuation. It's not like it would last, just like any of the others.

The two continued in conversation that most would have found strange due to the way they talked without really saying a lot, but they were used to it, when, a while later Chris and the girls returned. They all joined the others in the living room where Caroline and Clare were arguing over what film to watch.

"I want to watch something scary," Caroline was secretly hoping that she could navigate it so that she could sit next to Darcy then when it got really scary she could grab him and he could comfort her.

"But, Caroline no one really likes those films. I want to watch something more fun," Clare knew that there wasn't much point in arguing as Caroline nearly always got what she wanted. Well, apart from Darcy.

"This could turn ugly people," Chris put on a commentators voice. "And now in day one of the ongoing snow trials it's Bingley versus Bingley in the hunt for the dvd. Who will win?" he shut up abruptly as they both turned to glare at him.

They continue to argue when suddenly the television which Hurst had been flicking through and had left on Diagnosis Murder (the entertainment situation was rather desperate) suddenly died.

"Looks like no one will be watching any films today. The electricity's probably gone."

"Then why are the lights on?" Lizzie had to ask the obvious.

"They're separate circuits. We're trying to fix them but there were problems because it was such a cold winter."

"Charlie! I need you to fix it." Caroline wasn't sure how much of this house she could handle. Sure it was nice and pretty but nothing ever seemed to work and in her opinion it was far too close to a certain pair of sisters.

"Well I guess I could down to the cellar and flick the transmitter. Chris, could you help?"

"Charlie don't be silly. We'll just play a game or something."

Caroline frowned at Lizzie's suggestion but the other agreed particularly Chris who thought that a drinking game might be fun until Lizzie pointed out that it wasn't even twelve o clock.

They started off with rummy, then whist, cheat, pig and finally poker. Darcy, who told himself that he was looking for everyone's tell found himself losing rather more than he would usually as he looked for Elizabeth's. He was glad no one else had noticed.

These games took a long time and didn't allow for too much conversation which was an added bonus. Afterwards whilst everyone was munching on the crisps and nuts that they had found, Charlie and Jane were sitting in the corner having an intimate conversation, Darcy was emailing Georgy, Clare was reading and Chris and Lizzie were playing a game that she called spit but that he knew as slam and Caroline who had been watching them knew as slap. Caroline who didn't really have anything to do was flicking through the same magazines she had been earlier with no interest and Lizzie, who having beaten Chris three times felt that they were being antisocial and took sympathy on her. Unfortunately after deciding to do this she couldn't think of a safe topic to bring up.

Darcy who had been watching the animated game now began to re-concentrate on his email. Caroline saw this as the opportunity to have some conversation.

"You type so fast, William."

Darcy wasn't really sure how to respond to that rather strange compliment and was very surprised that she had called him William, after all no one called him that.

"Really I'm not that fast. It's just practise."

"Who are you writing to? Anyone who writes that fast cannot be writing ill." Caroline honestly seemed to forget which century she was living in sometimes.

"Georgy." He was finding it difficult to concentrate and reread the sentence he had just typed before deleting it.

"Oh of course! Anybody could write fast to Georgy! I just adore her. Do send her my regards." Caroline simpered.

"Will do, Chris shall I tell her all about how you arrived or shall I leave that delight to you?" He knew the two were fairly close and Georgy always laughed at some of the hilarious or not so hilarious in Darcy's opinion jokes he got up to. When Georgy had been younger and annoyed with her big brother when Chris and Charlie were staying he had taken apart a small mini cooper and rebuilt it right in the middle of the front entrance.

"I already told her," He turned to Lizzie, "you will be pleased to know that in the returning email I anticipate a massive use of caps locks. She can be terribly severe."

"Nonsense Chris! Georgy is an angel!"

Darcy was frowning, not at the comment about Georgy being severe which was certainly true especially so if she was teased by her big brother when she was younger but at the fact that Chris was in that close contact with her that he had emailed her so soon after arriving; they weren't that close.

"She can be scary though. I remember that time you shrunk her pink party dress. Didn't she not talk to you for like a week?" Charlie asked.

"She's so accomplished. Truly a proper young lady, unlike so many." Caroline's tone was pointed.

Lizzie felt that there wasn't a lot of point in responding to every criticism otherwise she would soon have no time to do anything else. Besides, she was getting a headache so she picked up her book and read. Half an hour later when she felt as though legions of tiny men were stomping around in her brain she decided to take something to get rid of them.

She took some paracetamol that she had in her handbag and wondered how rude it would be if she didn't return but instead slept. She was awfully tired now. Deciding that almost anything would be better than returning down there she got back into bed and slept.

Almost two hours later she awoke feeling drowsy and cold. There was someone knocking on the door.

"Elizabeth?" It was Darcy pausing somewhat awkwardly outside the door.

"Yes," she found her voice was very croaky.

"I was just wondering we're about to find something to eat. People were starting to get hungry."

"Ok I'll be down in about five minutes."

Darcy paused wondering if he should wait for her but then went downstairs anyway.

Lizzie came downstairs and went into the dining room where she had assumed correctly that they would be eating. They had an electric cooker so there were only things like cheese, bread and fruit. Chris had attempted to cook something on the fireplace but it had failed in a miserable black mess. However he and Charlie had managed to find alcohol, a lot of fine, good quality alcohol which they were hoping make the evening better. The roads were still bad but it looked like they would be clear tomorrow so the two Bennet sisters would wait until then to leave.

They ate in relative silence quite quickly as they were hungry but it wasn't that appetising or filling. Afterwards Lizzie decided it would be rude to read and so sat there waiting to see what would happen. Watching people always helped create characters. She could already feel that Caroline would make a great villain for a story as well as Darcy who could be a great uptight boss type with a hidden secret.

The conversation soon started off serious but they pretty soon ran out of thoughts. They were all forced together and everyone felt quite awkward. Lizzie wished they could have broken up into groups but they were still all together no one really saying anything.

After a couple more games of cards- they were now playing poker again so that everyone could join in although they had ignored Chris's suggestion of strip poker. Privately, Lizzie thought that apart from the overweight Hurst she wouldn't mind seeing the other three men in the buff. Charlie, with his reddish blonde hair that was always messy and goofy awkward grin wasn't exactly her type but even she had to admit that he was easy on the eyes. Chris who had also inherited the messy hair but his was slightly blonder had more of a surfer look due to the fact that he was more tanned and muscular. He was more of Lizzie's type but overall she had always preferred the typical, old fashioned routine of tall, dark and handsome. Which definitely meant that six foot three Darcy fit that bill. He may have been a pompous, arrogant arsehole but he was exceptionally good looking. He also had the sort of hair that could sell shampoo to a bald man which Lizzie had always found particularly attractive. Chris had nice hair but it was the sort that looked like it hadn't been washed properly in weeks let alone brushed or combed. She knew some woman liked that but she always preferred her men well groomed.

The three other women around the table were thinking along similar lines. Clare had, once upon a time, had a small thing for Darcy until it became obvious that Caroline had a massive crush on him and she was pushed aside. Caroline was practically salivating at the thought and Jane certainly didn't have any objections to any of the men apart from Hurst and would have quite liked to have seen Charlie strip.

If the men could read the woman's mind hey would have almost agreed with them. However no one not even Hurst was thinking of the Bingley sisters (he preferred Jane and his whisky). One other was thinking of Jane and the other two Elizabeth. It was obvious that that particular version of the game could not be played with so many siblings in the room.

After a few games Caroline, Clare and Hurst (who went only on the insistence of his wife) went to bed quite early. Caroline looked as though she was going to stay but as she had been complaining that she hadn't had much sleep due to "_Eliza waking them all up" _she didn't have an excuse for staying downstairs once Claire and Hurst went up. After they had left Chris felt that strip poker might be more feasible but didn't dare suggest it.

Lizzie was starting to feel tired as well and her head had a weird muffled feeling as though she was getting a cold- which she probably was with the snow. She didn't stay much longer and when she too went to bed Jane, not wanting to be left with a group of men she didn't know well followed her.

Charles wanted to finish the pool game from the night before so they all went to the games room after going over to the decanter for some whisky. Chris wanted to email some friends and the laptop had been fully charged before so should have a while before ran out. Talking about email made Charlie feel guilty, something about Darcy always made him feel this way, he should have done more work after all they were very busy right now. Still he could always use the fact that there had been a power cut as an excuse.

Chris took over Charlie's game, he was more evenly matched against Darcy anyway, and Charlie checked his email.

"Wow, I'm going to have to really sort the details of this ball next week. I've got three emails from the caterers, two from the band and one from some woman named Shirley about which waiter service to use, apparently there are eight to chose from."

"Charlie isn't that thing in like a week?" Chris asked.

"Yeah, February 5th it's a Saturday."

"So, shouldn't this all be organised anyway? It's kinda late notice."

"Oh, Charles are you talking about the ball," Caroline (whose ears had been pressed up against the door and who had rushed downstairs the moment she had heard the two sisters settle in their room) entered the games room from where she had been hovering in the doorway listening in.

"You needn't worry. I sorted it all ages ago. I don't know why there bothering you now. It's going to be perfect, tasteful and elegant. Not like that welcome back event they threw for us."

Charlie who was annoyed that Caroline had sneaked down and who had rather enjoyed the party that had been thrown in his honour as he had found it less stuffy merely thanked his sister and shut off his laptop relived that he wouldn't have to make all those decisions. He hated to admit it but she did know how to throw a good party. She had learnt from a very early age which forks to use, what alcohol to serve, how to keep guests circulating all the essentials for a society wife. If she got her way that was all that she would ever need to learn.

"Charlie you are aware that you really ought to show up to this event with a date. I can call Olivia to go with you. I'm sure she'd love to."

"I can actually get my own date, Caroline. I was going to ask Jane."

Caroline pursed her lips slightly, she would rather Charlie was with a girl like Olivia but overall she didn't care too much- Jane was a sweet girl and she knew it wouldn't last.

"You mean we can bring dates to this thing?" Chris asked. "Score! I'm so asking Lizzie, at least that way I might be guaranteed a little fun."

This statement made Caroline frown along with Darcy but as he decided that he didn't really care he turned to Caroline and asked, "Will you be going with me, Caroline?" The way he phrased this question made it seem as though he wasn't really asking her just assuming but that was the way their relationship worked. Not that they were in a relationship; he found her insufferable but they nearly always went to these events together.

"Oh yes definitely. It'll make life so much easier. I'm wearing purple if that helps." She was no longer frowning but to her annoyance he still was. She wondered, briefly if she should change but then remembering just how much her dress had cost and just how angry Charlie would be with her about that she decided to stick with it.

Moments later Darcy announced that he too was going to bed.

**Sorry again about this chapter.**

**By the way the mini cooper story is true.**

**So someone suggested that Chris and Lizzie should get together for a while and then decide their not right for each other. I hadn't originally thought of this but I quite like this idea, after all this means we get to see more of jealous Darcy. She also has a great way for them to get together but I was just wondering what you think. I'm a bit worried that I'll like them too much and Darcy'll have to fall tragically off a cliff. You never know...**


	5. Hello Wickham Goodbye Wickham

**I'm updating this because I already have this chapter written but I have exams pretty soon so I'm not sure when I'll be able to get the next one out, sorry. I also decided to get rid of Wickham because well he's annoying and I wanted to take this story to a different direction**

Disclaimer: don't own

Hello Wickham, Goodbye Wickham.

Lizzie tugged on her skirt as she walked down the street for the third time that morning and still felt that it was too short. She knew she was only temping and that she was just doing a favour for Charlie but she didn't want to step on the toes of anyone who might feel that she shouldn't be there. She had temped for Jane a couple of time and knew the people in that office well but people often used people they knew well for emergency jobs and for all she knew she had put the head assistants best friend out of a couple weeks of work.

She straightened her blouse and tucked a strand of hair behind her ear before entering the building in front of her.

"Lizzie, it's good to see you. You found the building ok, then?" Charlie was waiting by the front reception desk with a thick folder in his hand. "I've pulled some strings and as Chris is returning today he'll need some help returning and sorting himself out so you too can be new together. Please make sure you actually get some work done, though, Chris has a habit of being a bad influence and spending all day in Costa."

The moment Charlie said this Chris walked in through the revolving door. His tie was crooked and he generally looked fairly dishevelled. He was however, holding coffee so in Lizzie's eyes looked like an angel.

"Aaah my gorgeous and glamorous assistant. Shall we start then?"

Charlie handed him the folder and talked to him quickly and quietly whilst Lizzie looked around and tried not to listen in. Charles' company made logos and designs for a lot of companies as well as the occasional advertising campaigns. They had just started to do a lot of stuff online. Jane's company was a similar theme but on a much smaller scale and when Charles' company had taken off they had bought the smaller version as part of their expansion.

Chris led her to the lifts stopping to talk to three people on the two minute walk across the lobby. He had seen Charles new country home a few weeks ago but hadn't made it in to the office so people wanted to catch up with him. He led her up to his office and since they were sorting a lot of paperwork and it was a very big office she had a small desk in the corner. They were both glad that this arrangement had worked out the way it had.

Two hours later, Lizzie was tired. She knew it sounded pathetic but she had forgotten how tiring it was working conventional hours. Her writing was difficult and she worked very hard on it- during the middle of her book she was making sure she was writing at least ten thousand words a day. It was just she hadn't had to get up early, she could stop when she liked, eat whatever, wear her pyjamas and her work had been inspiring. This was just boring, typing up letter heads, moving around boxes, filing and sorting spreadsheets.

Chris had had a lot of visitors and didn't seem to be doing a lot of work is you counted sighing at the computer and then tapping on his keyboard furiously only to press the backspace button repeatedly. Still as he had a lot of spare time she'd had a lot of warm coffee and he'd even managed to sneak the good biscuits out of the staff kitchen.

Lizzie was supposed to be meeting Jane for lunch in a restaurant so at one o'clock slipped on her shoes and coat and went down the road. Chris, it seemed had finally managed to get some work done and was planning on working through lunch and taking a later lunch with Charlie who was in a business meeting.

She arrived at the restaurant a little early and as she was pushing on the heavy door her phone vibrated with a text message from Jane saying that she was held up in a meeting and would be running a couple of minutes late. She sat down and decided to order herself a drink. Although she really felt like a nice glass of wine, preferably whilst in a scalding hot bubble bath she felt that people might think it wrong to order wine at lunchtime especially if she also started stripping off her clothes and lying down on the floor.

The waiter who served her the hot chocolate that she had eventually decided to go for was very cute. She decided that she'd had enough caffeine that day and it was the most addictive substance in the world maybe it was best to avoid it. Perhaps Darcy was right; she could distinctly remember some science worksheet that she had done in high school worked out that when you looked at all the different symptoms such as dependency, withdrawal symptoms and other things like reaction times Caffeine came out as the worst substance, worse than heroin or Cannabis, if she remembered correctly alcohol was the second worse. But, then there were always strange statistics, what was that one that she had heard the other week? Oh yes, more people die a year from horse related accidents than they did from taken ecstasy. Of course most statistics were ridiculous and she would never ever take drugs. She knew she was rambling but she had always been impatient and was hoping Jane would get here soon.

Yes, the waiter who served her was cute but clumsy after he spilt the hot chocolate on her arm he began to apologise profusely.

"I'm so sorry really I never do this, honestly. I'll get your meal sorted out for you. How does thirty percent off sound. Normally it would be twenty but for a gorgeous face like yours."

As the hot chocolate had grazed her arm and he was being charming, Lizzie thought that thirty percent sounded very good. He was about to go on a break and as she was waiting for Jane they began to talk. She found out his name was George Wickham and that he had been at Oxford for a while but then an unfortunate accident with a supposed friend from Cambridge had forced him to leave and become a waiter to make his money. From anyone else this might have sounded ridiculous and part of Lizzie felt as though she should keep her guard up but George seemed so harmless and honest with deep blue eyes that she was certain he was telling the truth. He was funny and seemed very genuine; she was contemplating giving him her number.

At that moment Darcy walked in to the restaurant. Lizzie hadn't checked her phone but the reason that Jane's meeting had overrun was because they had been introduced to the people from Charlie's meeting and the two had begun talking and were all going to go to lunch together along with Chris and Darcy. The moment he saw Lizzie and who she was with he scowled and turned away as if to walk out the, crashing into a young woman who had just entered. As he turned he noticed Jane, Charlie and Chris walking along the street. When they walked through the door he turned to them angrily.

"C'mon, Charles we're not eating here."

Lizzie turned to him in astonishment; she was starting to get angry partially because she had been waiting for a while now and was hoping to just have lunch with Jane but also because Darcy was infuriating. This restaurant was supposed to be good and she'd already seen something that she wanted on the menu. Besides, what gave him the right to boss people around?

Darcy meanwhile was fuming, what on earth was _he _doing here? How dare he? He had better warn Elizabeth against him, she was hopefully smart enough not to be fooled by him but from the look on her face when he had smiled at her she was already too far gone. Stupid girl blinded by looks.

Lizzie looked back to where George had gone. He had been right by her side moments before but was now at the counter by the kitchen picking up a few plates to serve. He turned to her and gave a sort of apologetic lopsided grin but then avoided his gaze when he saw who was standing next to her. Lizzie noticed this and wondered if Darcy, who Charles had recently mentioned had gone to Cambridge, was the friend that caused him to leave Oxford. It seemed like something that he would do.

Chris who had been helping a woman with a buggy get out of the door now entered the restaurant but was quickly surprised as Darcy stormed past him shoving on the door. Lizzie raised her eyebrows at this, how dare he just walk away without explaining himself?

No one really said anything as Darcy led them to another restaurant just around the corner from the place that they had original gone to. Once they sat down, Jane turned to Lizzie to apologise about how late she had been. Unfortunately for everyone at the table, Jane then asked who she had seen Lizzie talking to. Not that she wanted to make anything uncomfortable but Lizzie couldn't help but want to see if she was right in her assumptions about Darcy.

"Oh, yes his name was George Wickham. He's a waiter there and was so nice. He was telling me some really awful story. Sounded so tragic."

At this Darcy felt that he couldn't take anymore so stood up very quickly causing the back of his chair to wobble precariously.

"He's an idiot and you should stay away from him if you've got any common sense which in fact I'm beginning to question right now."

He stormed out of the restaurant, causing worried frowns and an awkward silence. Lizzie looked at her watch , mainly so she could avoid everyone else's gazes and realised that she wouldn't have a time to eat a whole meal and thought that she could just grab some sandwiches and a packet of crisps. She also wanted to get out of there as quickly as possible. Chris, realising that Charlie and Jane wanted to be alone decided that he would join her and then they could get on with decorating his office which he was looking forward to. Charles stepped outside with them briefly to see if Darcy was answering his phone but he wasn't so he left a text. Charlie had expected as much.

Lizzie realised that Darcy was definitely bipolar or possible insane. In fact his outburst seemed to prove that he was guilty.

Darcy meanwhile was wondering why on earth he had just done that. It was just something about that man that was so infuriating. Maybe if he had done something before all those years ago.... he paused and sighed angrily reminding himself to not do that. He couldn't keep thinking that he should have done something even if he knew it was true. He knew that what he said was mean and he wished that he could take it back but as for all his idiotic comments once again it was too late.

Chris and Lizzie didn't talk although both of them really wanted to know what the other was thinking. As they stopped in at a small sandwich shop and were looking up separate aisles they ran into one of the men that was in both their minds, Wickham

"Oh, hey Lizzie I was hoping to run into you." He gave her a sweet, shy smile that she had no way of knowing was totally rehearsed. "I. was just thinking that maybe you'd like to go on a date sometime. I know this really great restaurant and I promise I won't spill any down you. I know I seem very forward but it's not every day a guy meets a girl who just sweeps him off his feet."

The line was cheesy and not something that she would normally go for but she couldn't help but smile. He also couldn't help but smile in response- that line always worked- but stopped when he saw who had just come up the aisle behind her holding two chicken salads.

"Bingley?"

"Wickham!"

"I didn't think you were in the country." Lizzie turned to him and noticed how he was shuffling his feet and looked almost afraid of Chris.

"I bet you did." Chris seemed to have grown and was almost puffing out his chest putting his arm protectively around Lizzie's shoulder. Wickham, to Lizzie's disappointment disappeared almost immediately without getting her number.

They paid but Chris still hadn't explained things to her so as they were walking back to the office he took her on a little detour.

"Lizzie, I know Darcy hasn't exactly given you the best impression so far and I know that scene back there doesn't help but you should stay away from Wickham,"

"Ok...," she paused dubiously.

"Look your smart enough not to like someone just because I've told you to stay away from them but Wickham is scum. Ok? I can't tell you what he did because it's not really my place to tell but trust me." He was looking right at her now and was speaking so earnestly that Lizzie couldn't help but trust him. "Sorry I probably sound all mistake and mafia like but seriously, ok?.Just be careful."

They smiled at each other and carried on walking in a comfortable silence eating as they went until they reached the office.

***

Meanwhile Darcy was wondering whether or not he should go to Lizzie and apologise but then realised that would warrant a lot of questions that he didn't particularly want to answer. He supposed he could try and do something about Wickham but realistically there was nothing much that could be done and it would be a bit like picking at an old scab wound. It would be fine, surely? He could always keep an eye out for her but she probably knew how to handle herself.

The phone rang outside and he watched through the frosted glass window as his secretary picked it up. He had been so stressed lately he wondered on how much she had picked up on it.

His phone rang and he realised that the call must be for him but it was strange that Louise hadn't checked that it was ok first. Normally if it was important the person had his direct office line but he was very difficult to reach so it made sense that they had called Louise first.

"Hello?"

"Fitzwilliam Darcy, you really must do something about your secretary."

Brilliant, it was his Aunt Catherine.

Terrible pronunciation and she spent far too long trying to find out who I was before putting me through. I would strongly recommend firing her. I have several young girls who I would definitely recommend."

Darcy sighed and frowned wishing that Louise had stood up to her and not put her through but then realised that Hitler probably wouldn't have stood up to her when she was in full rant mode.

"Oh, yes definitely right away Aunt Caroline. So lovely to hear from you." He almost managed to keep the sarcasm out of his voice. "How are you? And Anne?" that would keep her off his back for a couple of minutes why he figured out what he had done wrong. He probably hadn't been spending enough time with his supposed future fiancé but he and Richard were planning again to go on their annual trip at Easter. She wouldn't be arranging that already, surely? But, then it couldn't be about the company could it. He had made it perfectly clear as had his father that her interference was not welcome when it came to their company.

"Now, I know this is a bit out of the blue, but my, well I guess you could call him my protégée... He's coming to London pretty soon. Now I'm not suggesting that you spend much time with him but I happen to know that it's your friends Charles Bingley's company's annual ball this Saturday. I was wondering if you could get him invited. That Bingley boy seems very nice and if you mention my name I'm sure that might help. I wouldn't normally ask but there's been a little bit of trouble with the hotel recently and maybe if Collins was at this ball thing then it might help."

It never ceased to surprise Darcy as to how she knew when Charlie's ball was although he did find it particularly interesting that she was now, finally admitting that the hotel was in trouble. He and Richard had seen the paperwork almost two years ago saying that the company was losing some money and since then he had checked regularly and from the look of the data he had to wonder what on earth she was spending it on. Was she giving her guests gold lined toilet paper? Because from the charts that he had looked at it wasn't a completely ridiculous idea.

"I think that I should probably be able to do that." Charlie wouldn't say no and it was normally such a big event that he would probably be able to sneak him in without Charlie noticing. Besides if there were more men there then others wouldn't be expected to dance as much.

"What did you say his name was?" He grabbed a pad and pen. Maybe he should look up this guy. He knew his aunt had no sense of finances, she had never need to do but maybe this guy could be the saviour of the hotel, or perhaps the one responsible it.

"Nigel Collins. He's really rather wonderful, most attentive."

He groaned internally; if his aunt thought that this man was wonderful it was bound to mean that he would be an absolute nightmare. Wait a second... Nigel Collins? Why was that name so familiar?

**Oh poor Lizzie, guess escaping Collins will be harder than she originally thought. Maybe someone will have to save her. (I wonder who?)**

**Not, exactly a brilliant chapter either but it needed to be written. Sorry for mistakes.**

**Please review, particularly with any questions or suggestions. **

**I think that I'm going to have Lizzie and Chris date for a while so..**


	6. Cinderella you shall go to the ball

**Thank you so much to everyone reviewed. I should be doing my maths but who cares? I'm not sure but I think that the timing may be off on this piece so the days may be slightly muddled. **

Sorry that this took awhile been busy and am starting exams.

Disclaimer- don't own

"Cinderella you shall go to the ball"

It had now reached the point that if Lizzie were to go to a masseur they would probably say that her back and shoulders were as tense as a fridge door. Collins had arrived and she had now reached a point where she was having to mutter under her breath that, murder was illegal and that she would never survive prison. The arguments that she was using weren't that Collins must be a nice decent person underneath but that if her sister was arrested for violently stabbing a man then Jane would be devastated. Yes, she had never exactly been a patient person and was starting to reach her limit.

It was her birthday tomorrow and she really fancied having maybe a nice meal out with friends some good wine and afterwards a nice bubble bath. At the moment it didn't seem too likely to happen. A close friend Lydia was planning on dragging her to a club and when Jane had heard these plans she had somehow wanted to join in. They had arranged it all without giving Lizzie much of a say thinking that her protests were fake and that this was what she really wanted. Part of her wanted to be completely selfish and enjoy the evening by herself.

Collins had been helping but more often hindering both of them. He was supposed to be working with some people on items for the hotel but unbeknownst to him, Darcy, who he worshipped, had looked over the finances and made a few calls so that he couldn't totally destroy all his Aunt's finances by going to decorators that used paint that cost three or more figures.

Still, on the plus side she wasn't Collins date to the ball in seven days. She almost felt giddy when she thought about that it had happened so quickly and she was so relived....

"Lizzie, hey what are you doing for lunch break?" It was Charlotte Lucas a close friend of Lizzie and Jane's who they had known quite well during university and then become closer when they she had lived with them for two months whilst looking for somewhere to live, ringing her up quite early in the morning a few days before her birthday. She hadn't seen her in a while.

"Sorry I can't. I don't know if I told you but Collins is back in town and I said I'd grab lunch with him."

She was already worrying about her decision making ability and he had only rung an hour ago. He was that desperate that he had actually rung straight from the airport; she could hear the announcement system in the background. She was trying to not be judgemental but treat him with respect but it was going to be hard. She thought that if she agreed to one lunch then she wouldn't feel guilty about blowing him off the rest of the time he was there.

"No you didn't. I haven't actually met him yet. But," she said with a laugh, "I remember the stories that you used to tell about him.

"Lucky you. Still, I've got my boss Chris to ring halfway through. I know it's awful of me but seriously there is something about this guy that drives me crazy."

"Oh I don't think you can blame all your crazy behaviour on just one guy. As far as I know you've always been fairly wacky."

The two laughed and then began discussing outfit ideas and joking around. It had been a long time since the two of them had spoken, Charlotte had been sent away on some crappy team building exercise program. It was supposed to be a summer camp but her rather awful PR Company could only afford it in the winter so the only activities that were available were swimming in an overly chlorinated barely heated pool or rock climbing. Attendance was mandatory and so now Charlotte upper arms were aching and because she had bought the wrong clothes she had scratches all down one arm. Needless to say Charlotte had a lot of bitching to do. Soon, it would be Lizzie who was bitching about how awful Collins was.

Collins had arrived ten minutes early from the lunch looking sweaty and flustered despite the fact that he had only had to settle into his hotel and a freezing cold day.

Chris seeing that she was getting more than slightly irritated with the way that he was picking up various papers, moving them to the wrong side of the room, commenting on her handwriting of all things and how whilst the calligraphy of her letters were very stylish perhaps she should write more like Anne de Bourg let her go to lunch early. Also, another suggestion of Collins was that maybe she should use something more elegant than a pencil pot to hold paper's down, if Catherine de Bourg knew the state that her desk was in well then he didn't know what she would think!

Singing various different Disney themes under her breath- she had just finished The Little Mermaid and was now onto The Lion king, she walked with him to the restaurant ignoring most of what he said. It was a skill she had learnt fairly early on. All you had to do was nod and smile at the right point, rarely you might be required to frown.

"And so dearest Elizabeth, I was standing there with Lady Catherine de Bourg on my left and his Grace, the Duke Montague on my right and I was able to show them all around the newly furbished hotel. I swear to you, Elizabeth there is no hotel like The Regent, not that I want to toot my own horn." Here he broke off and gave a smug little laugh, "but you know we have had comparisons to places like the Dorchester and the Ritz."

"Oh, really," Lizzie gave an encouraging smile. She had actually read those same reviews which claimed that although the Regent had similar prizes to that of well established, refined places like the Ritz and the Dorchester it didn't even offer a quarter of the service or experience.

The rest of the meal continued in this awkward fashion she had barely been able to enjoy her food what with his constant flattery and backward comments but what was so ridiculous was that Collins was so completely backwards. He didn't believe that woman should work, he was amazed that Jane was running her company- after all men were so much better in higher situations. At this moment, Lizzie was exceptionally tempted to say that she was in fact a lesbian, getting married in a civil ceremony and adopting which were three things he had voiced very strong opinions on.

They walked back together; he had insisted, apparently he had something he wanted to ask her. She was now concerned that she had done the wrong thing. She was hoping that she was doing the right thing by being polite and going out to lunch with him but now she felt that she was leading him on.

It was awkward and strange between the two of them. He hadn't quite run out of compliments but it did seem as though he was bored with her company and even she had to admit she wasn't being very good company; it was just so hard to get a word in edgeways. Also, compliments weren't exactly the best conversation starters neither were mentions of the weather- sure it had been unusually cold recently but there was no reason to mention that more than once.

They reached her desk which was still in Chris's office but he was nowhere to be seen.

"And so alas, my dearest Elizabeth we must path. I am most sorry but I have a few meetings that I must attend to. However we will not be parting for long." She wasn't sure why, but this sounded either like a suicide pact or something a really crazy psychotic killer would say to his victim. "You see due to my connections I have managed to be personally invited to the great annual Bingley Ball and I would be most delighted if you were to accompany me."

"Um uh," Oh god what could she say. No, No way in hell. I would rather go with that creepy Tom Hollander the weird guy from Pride and Prejudice and Pirates of the Caribbean than you. No, wait, scratch that I would rather go with Darcy! It's not if I went with him he would talk to me- perfect!

"I'm afraid that's not going to be possible." Chris glided into the room, smoothly and handsomely putting one arm around Lizzie's waist kissed her on the cheek and stuck his hand out to shake Collins.

"Nicholas right? Lizzie told me she was having lunch with you today. Old friend, right? Nice to meet you." Chris knew what his name actually was but it was such an old trick to get it wrong that he couldn't resist.

"Um, Nigel actually." Collins was confused.

"Oh sorry. Yeah I'm sorry but Lizzie can't be your date to the ball."

Collins was frowning, was her boss telling her that she couldn't go? Was it some sort of work protocol?

"No, I'm afraid she's going with me." There was a pregnant pause. "Darling, don't look at me like that." He turned to Lizzie as she raised her eyebrows at him, his face very close to hers. "Nobody at work cares if were dating. I've spoken to Charlie and its totally fine, relax."

Collins was now frowning, he had had thought that Elizabeth was single. He could have sworn her mother had said yes he was when he had rung to ask just before leaving for his trip. But then she had seemed very strange about giving him personal information about Elizabeth, maybe because Elizabeth hadn't told her. Yes, that must be it! He was triumphant, Elizabeth wasn't telling her family about this man Chris because she was embarrassed about him. He could still save her!

"Oh I thought that Lizzie was single."

"Lizzie! She's always been like that, hasn't she? So shy. No, we've been dating for a while now haven't we?"

"Oh yes, I mean we kept it pretty quiet for a while." She smiled at Chris putting her own arm around his back.

"Right well that's great. I guess I'll see you both at the ball, oh and your party Lizzie. " Collins was acting even more awkward than usual. "Save a dance for me. That is if you'll let her." He flustered his way out of the room.

"Oh I don't know if I'll let you." Chris whispered close to her ear as Collins was still watching. "After all you are my possession."

Collins had now gone along the corridor so Lizzie leaned away from Chris, "yeah I know he takes a lot of getting used to and even then that's not enough time."

She turned away from here and lent back on her desk.

"I actually love you for doing that!" she felt giggly and light headed at the thought that she now had a genuine excuse to avoid Collins. "I was just about to kill you for not ringing me during lunch but now I don't care." She laughed again not sure why she was so happy with him and his idea but she was.

"Yeah I'm so sorry about that I got caught up talking to that awful Joanna. I honestly thought that you were exaggerating but clearly you weren't."

She smiled briefly but then a sudden worry came to her. "Um... about the boyfriend, girlfriend thing?"

She paused hoping that she wouldn't have to ask him if that was ok and lead to a really awkward pause. Maybe she was assuming too much, maybe she wasn't going to the ball and he had just been joking. That would be annoying even though she knew Collins was going to be there she quite liked the idea of getting all dressed up and dancing. Besides, she knew what people said about what happened when you "ass-u-me".

"Yeah sorry it was the only thing that I could think of. It'll probably make things awkward for you and Jane, I mean I'm guessing Collins will run around telling everyone. But if you want I'll let you break up with me."

"Wait, what?" Lizzie was still asking vague questions .

"Well," Chris wasn't sure how to answer and so decided that maybe this could be his opportunity. "I'm just thinking that, your birthday thing is in two days, right? And in case you didn't know, Jane has invited me and I defiantly know that Collins is invited. So he's probably going to walk in there shooting his mouth off and I thought that maybe we should have some sort of story arranged."

He was talking quite fast now and both of them were avoiding each other's gazes slightly.

"So, I figure we have two options," he was talking in a slightly detached tone which bothered her slightly. "We can either pretend we're dating and when Collins has gone tell everyone what we were doing or we could pretend we're dating and then after an appropriate amount of time we could split, amicably of course. Or I guess I could turn up at the party and claim that Collins got it all wrong, but that..."

"Makes us look fairly stupid, yeah."

"So what do you think?" he had his hands in his pocket and looked like an awkward teenager despite the fact that he was in a designer suit.

"Um, I don't know.." she knew she was being unfair making him give all the suggestions but she too felt like a teenager and what was worse for her, she was sure that she could feel her cheeks turning bright red.

"Well I think the first option might make us look at little bad but the second one means that we would have to lie to everyone..."

"Maybe we wouldn't have to."

Shit had she just said that? Oh God, now she was panicking how would he interpret that? Would he try to come up with a different more moral option or would he look at it the way that she had been hoping.

"What exactly are you thinking?" He was now more nervous than he had been in years and his cheeks defiantly had a pinkish glow to them.

"Well maybe if we uh went out on an actual date then we wouldn't have to lie to them." Her heart was thundering in his chest. If he didn't say yes she didn't know what she would do. Not that she was in love with him but they worked together, if he tried to work his way out of the question it would be so painfully awkward.

"God I was hoping that you would say that." He let out a long sigh of relief.

"Really?" she let out a shy relieved smile.

"Yes," he was smiling now. He gave her his charming killer smile, "and, for the sake of my male self esteem, will you, Elizabeth Bennet go out with me?"

"Sure," they smiled at each other nervously both with rather goofy grins on the face when there was a rapping sound on the door and they both jumped to see Charlie there.

"Chris? We've got that meeting with Sanders now."

"Ok. You go ahead I'll be right behind you, I just need to grab some files." Charlie nodded and turned out of the door, "So... we should arrange something soon. I'll also talk to Charlie about getting you an office or a cubical. Not that I want you gone but that, well it is slightly awkward."

She definitely agreed with him about that but then not even two minutes after he had walked out she automatically began to think that he had just agreed so that he didn't have to deal and then the moment she had moved out of his office then he was going to dump her. Oh stop it Elizabeth, you're being ridiculous.

When Chris returned from an incredible boring meeting he discovered that Lizzie was on the phone so hovered by the door so as not to interrupt her.

"Right, so we'll meet there at seven." Her voice seemed dull and unenthusiastic but if she was talking about seven it must be personal. Unless she was talking about seven in the morning, Chris wondered hoping so much that it wasn't as that was far too early for him.

"Ok, so do I need to bring anything? So what are you wearing?" she still didn't sound very interesting and that last question just seemed like a routine that she had to go through.

He heard her murmuring in agreement occasionally and decided that he could now walk into the office.

"Oh, I haven't decided yet but maybe you could come over and help me decide." She had absolutely no idea what she was going to wear to the party but the way that she was feeling it she would probably end up in her penguin pyjamas carrying a hot water bottle and eating a mountain of food.

The phone call with Jane (although Chris was unaware of who she was talking to) ended quickly and she then had to go to the photocopier to do some files. There were lots of different sections that needed to be copied and double sided as well as some filing to do so she was from her desk for quite a while.

Whilst she was doing this Chris was working out a plan.

**Don't worry! Lizzie and Darcy will get together in the end! Or will they?...**

**Anyway, just to clarify a few things. Lizzie has a fairly good relationship with her mother. Not Gilmore girls/ TV mum close but they get on well with occasional arguments. Jane may be slightly closer in the sense that she rings/ visits home more but there's not much in it. Lizzie is more connected to her Father though with the same taste in books/ film etc. Currently in my mind they don't have any other siblings except possibly a brother with whom I may add a few surprises but I'm not totally decided.**

**So a little sneak peak.... if I get my act together the next chapter will be nice and long**

_It had been the perfect date_

_It was at that moment that Darcy felt his hand clench up, tightened. He knew that he would very much like to punch something or someone right then and there but striding across the floor and socking Chris in the jaw may not be the best move. Besides, did he really care?_


	7. The perfect date?

**So it's been one of those weeks. Why is it that when you are ill it seems that the whole world is conspiring together to make it just that little bit worse? Also you begin to panic that you have swine flu even though you have no links to it whatsoever. Sorry, slight rant. The next one may be a little late- exams continue so, sorry.**

Disclaimer- don't own.

"So...." Chris suddenly felt really nervous around Lizzie, "your party is in two days and the ball is next Saturday."

"Yes?"

"And Jane has already planned a special event at some night club? Liquid?"

"Yes?" she wondered exactly where he was going with this.

"And if we went we would be going as a couple because Collins is going to be there."

"Um yes."

"And we would have to tell everyone including Charlie and Jane not to mention my sisters and Darcy that we're dating"

"- wait a second." She interrupted him, "Darcy and your sisters are going to be at _my _birthday party?" what the hell was Jane thinking?

"Um yeah I think that the guest list might have been slightly hijacked," he paused with an apologetic grin on his face. "But we'll have to tell all these people that we're dating even if we haven't gone on a date."

"Well, yes." She still didn't know where he was going and was starting to feel tiny irrational fears that automatically came with being a girl creep up again.

"And you don't really want to go to this party?"

"Um," she didn't know what to say. If she said no, she didn't want to go it would make her seem so ungrateful. But, if she said yes then she would be lying and maybe she should start off by being honest with him.

"Yeah I knew it. So you don't want to go. Well good."

"Good?"

"Yeah this way you can have another party later when you're in the mood and Collins isn't in town."

She shot him another quizzical look for about the thousandth time that she had done so.

"Sorry I'm getting ahead of myself. Look, you don't have to agree to this but I actually know the guy that owns Liquid and he's willing to ring Jane and say that for some reason she can't have the party there, and then she can postpone it. Then you can do whatever you want that night- like for instance having a date with me or whatever?"

Did he just ask her out officially? She knew she was being pathetic but she couldn't help smiling at that. She really wanted to say yes that sounded so much better than going to a loud club but then she remembered how disappointed Jane would be. It was her birthday and it was basically her obligation to let other people enjoy it with her.

"I don't know Chris," she was slow and hesitant.

"Look just think about it ok?"

Two hours later she had thought about it for a while and after receiving two calls from Collins and another one with an extremely stressed out Jane she decided she was going to accept Chris's offer.

She left a post-it note on Chris' desk (he was getting coffee) and went to the toilet quickly. When she returned he was talking on the phone in a fake Italian, gangster type voice.

"Right John, begin plan A and remember it's totally hush hush. Mum's the word. I'm in deep undercover here so keep it on the down low."

Lizzie let out a snort of laughter. Chris grinned at her.

By the time it had reached her birthday, things had really changed. Firstly she now had her own little cubicle away from Chris's office although now she seemed to be getting far less work done. He was always emailing her funny jokes and websites and she had started to get to know the other people working in the office so spent more time chatting to them than working.

Of course Collins had wasted almost no time in telling everyone she knew that she was apparently dating one Christopher Bingley so she had spent a while fielding calls from Jane, jokes and comments in the lifts from Charlie, Charlotte who she had actually told quizzing her about all sorts of the details of what she was going to wear and a phone call from her rather confused Mother who she was close with who wanted to know all about this boy that "she seemed to be getting serious with."

Jane had heard back from John, the man who owned Liquid and knew that the party would have to be postponed. She had briefly talked about finding another venue but Lizzie had talked her out of it by playing the Concerned Sister card. She knew Jane had been busy and tired recently and so she mentioned her concerns especially after the fainting incident. She had felt guilty, briefly, but she had been worried about Jane and they had both agreed that organising the party when they had a bit more notice would be better. The moment Jane started to talk about her upcoming date with Chris she had suddenly found that she had to rush off to answer another phone conversation.

She had decided that spending her birthday alone was slightly pathetic so when Chris had rung her up to ask her to Cassons a very upmarket French restaurant, she bought herself a new dress and agreed. Only Charlotte knew the exact details of the date- she couldn't mention it to anyone at work it would be weird that she was dating her boss- and she hadn't really talked about it to Jane other than the fact that her sister knew she was dating him. It was partly because she felt guilty and also because it was strange that her sister was dating his brother.

They were to meet at the restaurant at seven.

*******

Literally, as she was walking through the door her uncomfortable high heeled shoes digging into the back of her feet after her date, she was accosted by both Jane and Charlotte. Jane didn't actually live with Lizzie but in a flat next door which was very convenient and Charlotte's place was so awful and far away that she often crashed with one of the sisters.

"So how was it?"

"C'mon tell us." They were acting like vultures hounding her for information.

"It was...." hmm how to describe it?

_It had been the perfect date._

_The restaurant had a pleasant atmosphere, great decor, nice music and amazing food. The company had also been.... perfect. In a way._

_She hadn't rung Jane hours before freaking out about what she was going to wear. Her clothes weren't thrown across her bedroom floor and she was happy with what she was wearing even though she hadn't put hours of thought into it. _

_She hadn't obsessed about what he might think if she ordered a burger or a salad. She hadn't thought about what she was saying and if she should be really revealing all these things about herself or if he was going to kiss her. Which, he did very sweetly on the lips as he walked her to her car. _

_But in a way she missed that. She missed that talking and getting ready with friends as she obsessed about what she was going to wear and what he would think. She missed that fluttering excited, nervous feeling as they talked and spent time together. _

_It didn't feel like a first date; it wasn't exciting. It was a though they had been dating for a while and we're in that comfortable stage. She wasn't sure why but she wanted to have the awkward stage there. _

"Yeah it was good, really good." She answered their questions without actually lying just not revealing everything.

It was strange, but perhaps even more proof of how alike they were that Chris was going through the same dilemma. He wasn't a particularly sentimental guy but even he knew that hadn't been the perfect first date, well not the one that he had been hoping for. He wasn't sure what he had expected just maybe not that. Maybe he was being unrealistic; maybe they would have more of a connection at the ball.

He was sure he was over analyzing it, thinking way too much. He should get a fresh prospective on it but who would he talk to? He couldn't really talk to any of his male friends that would really make him seem pathetic in their eyes. It would be awkward talking to Charlie about his girlfriend's sister. He could probably do with some female advice but the idea of going to his sisters was laughable. It was strange, he hadn't known her long but if it had been any other girl he would have gone to Elizabeth for advice. He could email Georgy perhaps, or just mull things over on his own for a while.

Lizzie meanwhile was sharing details of her date, she spoke in an excited gushy sort of way that meant that neither Jane nor Charlotte noted that she didn't seem as thrilled as she was making out.

All in all though it had been a good birthday and the date had been nice, great even but Charlotte was about to tell her news that would put a slight damper on the evening.

"So, Lizzie did you get some birthday money? Because I was thinking that we could go shopping for dresses together.

"Oh, do you need a dress for something?" her eyebrows creased. Jane sipped her drink knowing that Lizzie might have an issue with what Charlotte was about to reveal.

"Yeah, um actually Nigel came by earlier. Nigel Collins and, well he doesn't have a date for this ball and well you know I love dancing and I never get a chance or have a date so well I said yes. I mean it's just for one night."

Lizzie was wary but for the sake of Charlotte's nervous smile she laughed and said, "Well I hope he knows that. Trust me; he can be a little over zealous."

"Don't worry. I'm sure it'll be fine," she yawned, "Well I'm going to head to bed. Don't get up." She said to Lizzie as she started to move. "Jane and I already arranged it that I would stay at hers. She had the bed made up besides we didn't know what time you would be in or whether or not you would be alone." She gave her a saucy wink and made her way to the door.

"Sure, that's why you were both sitting here when I got in. That wouldn't have been at all awkward."

"I'll be over in a minute; I just need to talk to Lizzie about something." Jane said when it seemed as though Charlotte was waiting for her.

When the door had firmly shut behind her she turned to Lizzie, eyebrows raised. "So your really ok with this?"

Lizzie shrugged and grabbed a mug from the kitchen as well as some milk, ready to make herself some hot chocolate. "I don't think it's the best idea but I can see that she might want to go to the dance. He'll be gone soon after anyway and she's got like a black belt in tae Kwando. It'll be fine."

"So you're not at all bothered that he moved on a little be fast, if he so obsessed with you? I mean didn't you always sort of like the fact that there was this guy who was hopelessly in love with you. " Jane's tone was perfectly friendly and sounded as though even she didn't believe what she was saying.

"Jane! No I didn't like it! It was embarrassing and annoying. He wasn't hopelessly in love with me- he was pathetic and desperate and needy."

She thought about it for a moment, she didn't hate Collins but that wasn't to say that she welcomed his attention. Ok, when it had first begun when she was a teenager with low self esteem having to deal with what she felt were much prettier friends and a gorgeous sister who everyone compared her too, it was nice that there was someone who claimed to adore her and worship her every move but it soon became a laughing point. She had felt guilty even when she turned him down at first but he was too persistent for his own sense. It wasn't like he was some sort of dangerous stalker; the only danger to her was her blood pressure. She wanted him to go off some day find someone to marry, settle down live happily ever after as long as she was fractionally happier. Of course she liked the idea of him settling down mainly because it would get him off her back but also because everyone deserved that although she would feel very sorry for the woman. She had a difficult time picturing the woman who would say yes to a proposal from Collins.

"Ok then." Jane smiled as she always did and walked off to her own flat.

*******

A week later Lizzie was looking round her flat; maybe it was now time to take down the birthday cards. She had a good week with lots of great present, it seemed as though most people had decided that what she really wanted was bubble bath. Not that she minded.

Turning around she grinned at herself in the mirror. She had to admit to herself that she looked good. She had picked out a creamy coloured dress off set by a black pattern and looked like an old fashioned film star. Chris was due to pick her up in about five minutes and then they would drive to the ball together.

There was a knock on the door.

She walked out of her room with more care than was usual terrified that something might happen to her dress which had cost more than she originally planned. Oh, well you're only young once.

When Lizzie opened the door, Chris was almost speechless. Lizzie looked amazing.....

Actually they both did, even Darcy had to admit as much as didn't want to. He knew that they would be going together after all why would Elizabeth Bennet turn down the chance to get all dressed up at a special occasion? It wasn't like she would have a lot of opportunities to mix in with people for this class. He almost resented her excitement- this was all so routine to him and even to Caroline. The idea that he would meet a woman who got excited about putting on a dress without caring that it didn't cost over four figures, or that she grinned from ear to ear at the sight of Bingley's rather mediocre library had never really crossed his mind. Well, honestly he found her slightly exciting.

He wasn't really looking at them; Caroline had been talking to him loudly and he had been trying to avoid that Collins fellow. He was so irritating that he would rather voluntarily dance with Caroline than talk to him. Charlie bounded over to him like an over excited puppy. Possibly a labradoodle with the way his hair flicked.

"See I told you," he nudged Darcy to where Chris and Lizzie were standing with Chris whispering in her ear, "They're together! According to Jane, Lizzie seems totally happy, almost in love."

It was at that moment that Darcy felt his hand clench up, tightened. How on earth had Chris got to be "almost in love" with her in less than a week? He knew that he would very much like to punch something or someone right then and there but striding across the floor and socking Chris in the jaw may not be the best move.

Besides, did he really care? Elizabeth Bennet was nothing to him, absolutely nothing. She was just the sister of a girl that worked with Charlie.

He'd had a horrible week at work where four different hospital companies had decided to not pay the full price on the drugs that Darcy Pharmaceuticals were selling. If he couldn't sell them then that would mean a big blow for his company in this current market but by lowering the price he would also lose out money. He knew from experience that by just holding out that would soon be very willing to pay that price. Now that only two of the four drugs were working against swine flu and the growing fears that surrounded that issue he was expected a phone call any day now.

"Oh that's nice for them."

"Yes isn't it. I haven't seen Chris much but you know it's not like he falls in love that easily. I mean he normally just dates girls briefly as flings. He would never normally bring a girl to an event like this, unless it was special. Our parents are here!"

"Really?" Darcy looked behind Charlie and saw Mr Bingley senior talking with another elderly man whilst Mrs Bingley seemed to be commenting on Caroline's rather low cut dress.

Now Darcy was ready to spiral into a total pity fest. Not only did Chris meet a truly amazing girl who liked him back (not that he was interested in her, because he wasn't really) but he got to introduce her to his parents. His whole family were alive and knowing them they would be totally happy for him. Well, ok maybe he was taking things to far, Caroline was seriously unlikely to be happy. Still he could just imagine what his Aunt Catherine would say if he were to introduce Lizzie to her. Exactly, he told himself reiterating the message that he had drummed into his brain, you're in different circles there are different expectations. It's not like Chris actually has any role or responsibility in his company, is it? She is also fairly ridiculous, just look at some of her opinions!

Charlie then had to go and do the corporate thing and Will wasn't really doing a lot when he noticed Chris and Lizzie were dancing. They were standing close to each other, closer than she had stood the one time he had seen her dance previously. They were also laughing and looked very much in love. It was obviously a sign that she wasn't meant to be with him...

Averting his eyes he noticed that Charlie was now talking to both his parents and the odd thing was that Jane, wearing a pale pink high neck lined dress was standing with them clearly being introduced. It could just be a work thing but as Mr Bingley hadn't had that much of an active role in the company since his heart attack when he had decided that golf was his number one priority a couple of months ago it wasn't likely that he would be all that interested in meeting a new employee.

Maybe it was possible that Charlie was taking things to the next level. But that would be moving at an alarming rate even for Charlie. Couldn't he tell that she didn't feel the same way? That she was just looking to have a fling with the boss? Hoping that she could rise up another level with a bigger promotion?

Lizzie was having a great time. She didn't mind that she didn't have any particularly spectacular feelings about the man that she was dancing with. At least it wasn't repulsion which surely was Charlotte must be feeling. She loved the fact that she could dance with Chris and make jokes about what people were wearing and laugh about other things but that they could also dance in silence without it being uncomfortable.

Yes, it was all going so well until he spun her round past an older woman in a red floral dress who suddenly grabbed at Chris.

"Christopher James Bingley! When you return back to a country it is normally customary to let your mother know. Honestly, thirty- six hours of labour and most of the time I don't know what continent he's on."

Chris laughed cheekily and hugged her, kissing his mother on her cheek whilst Lizzie hung back not really sure where to stand as they were right on the edge of the dancing.

"Mother, this is Elizabeth. She is the younger sister of Jane Bennet."

"Oh it's very nice to meet you." She wasn't cold but there was something stiff and formal in the way she spoke that seemed taught as though she was trained in this matter of meeting and greeting people who might not have that much consequence on her life.

Suddenly in the same way that cats can sense volcanoes almost three days before scientific processes can, Lizzie knew that Collins was swooping down on her.

"Ahh Elizabeth, I see that your charming beau is currently unavailable and so, if I may, I wish to take this opportunity and ask you if you would wish to grace the floor with me?

For goodness sake why couldn't he just ask her if she wanted to dance? She glanced over at Chris but could tell that he had been kidnapped and was getting involved in some whole family saga and was not going to be able to rescue her.

"Are you sure Charlotte won't mind?" she smiled weakly and hopefully.

"No of course not! She claims that she is feeling rather tired and I know for a fact that you are an exceptionally superior dancer."

She resisted rolling her eyes and accepted him on the dance floor.

It was excruciating. There were no other works to describe it really. He kicked her three times and trod on her toes at least four. He held her far too close to be comfortable and began to talk very slowly in a monotone about biblical teachings. She thought that she might scream. The song ended and she had never felt more relieved but then Collins opened his mouth,

"Oh that was such a short song. I had no idea that our dance would be so brief. Would you do me the honour of dancing again?"

"I'm sorry I don't think that will be possible." A deep voice claimed from behind Lizzie. She saw Collins step back, eyes wide excited, yet that voice didn't belong to Chris, no that was...

"Mr Darcy. An honour, it is most an honour to meet you. "

"Yes, I was just hoping that I could steal Elizabeth away from you. I have been trying to talk to her all night."

"Yes of course, you must dance with Lizzie if you want to." He spoke hurriedly in his usual flustered manner.

Great, so I get no say in the matter? Did Collins not realise that woman were not possessions and that they should be asked whether or not they would like to dance with an arrogant rich bastards who had after all saved her...

She nodded her head looking away from Darcy's penetrating gaze unsure what she should do. She was more aware than she had ever been whilst dancing that he was touching her waist and that she could feel his warm, large hand both there through the material of the dress and as he took her own.

They weren't talking and both of them were very aware of this. The silence coming off from both of them was almost deafening.

Darcy wanted to break the silence. He wanted to make a jokey comment about rescuing her from Collins and maybe within that jokey comment he could add a slight apology for not giving her much choice in the matter. And then she could say, no it's ok I love dancing with you, your my knight in shining armour, how will I ever be able to repay you? And flat her eyelashes at him flirtatiously.

Ok so it was not that likely that she would say all that, actually with the way things were now it didn't seem as though she would say anything.

"So," he paused racking his brain for any conversation starters that he could use when inspiration struck, "apart from Catch 22 what other books are your favourites?"

"Books?" she was laughing. She thought back to the conversation she and Chris had been having in the car about what to expect from the evening. If you were not connected to talk business news then the only available subjects were the weather – this was a given as a large number of the people in the room were middle aged and British, the next topic would always be the news which if you were lucky could go on for several minutes after which you could always discover that you just had to go off and grab another drink. Books were always a last minute attempt from the rather unimaginative. Normally conversation could flow but at this moment it was particularly stunted.

"I really don't feel that I could talk about books whilst dancing."

"Of course not," he had to agree with her.

The song was almost ending now and so Darcy decided that he might try to recommend himself by saying what he planned to say at the start of the ball.

"Um," why was he pausing? He knew exactly what he wanted to say word for word. "About the other day, at the restaurant, I just wanted to say that I'm sorry. I've been very stressed lately."

And with that he turned curtly away from her leaving a very shocked Lizzie standing on the edge of the dancing giving her only a few seconds to think about this before Chris who had been freed from the odious Joe Meggarty and was making his way towards her.

So he had apologised? Well it seemed like a very stiff apology and was about a week too late in her opinion, but then as she thought that he would never apologise maybe it was better than nothing.

Chris raised her eyebrows at her, shooting her a confused look as he pointed at Darcy's back. She shrugged, tiredly. He walked closer to her holding a drink in each hand.

"How's it going?" he was attempting a casual head bob type movement that made her laugh.

"Fine,fine."

"Will you come out onto the balcony with me?" He said pointing to a glass door to the right of where they had been standing.

She nodded in agreement and followed.

**Please Review. I could really do with some ideas to help me improve. Hunsford shouldn't be that far away...**

**Also bonus points if you can work out which name I got from a very famous play that I just went to see. **


	8. Cue the Violins

**Longest Chapter yet! Woooh! Slightly slow moving but some important stuff for later. Not my favourite chapter but necessary...**

**Disclaimer- I'm not dead and I live in the 21****st**** century so not Jane Austen.**

**Cue the violins**

Chris had taken her outside on to the balcony into a setting so wonderful that had Lizzie seen it in a film she would have instantly mocked it for being completely ridiculous and unrealistic. The ballroom was up two levels to make room for the kitchens so the balcony lead for an amazing view across London. Torches were fixed into the wall creating dark shadows from the creeping vine that surrounded the door and the rest of the wall.

There was nobody around and surprisingly it wasn't as cold as she had expected. In short it was the perfect place for a kiss.

The only thing that was missing was music and then it would turn into a full blown film scene minus anyone actually filming it.

"Sorry. I just had to get out of there. Why is it that your own family know just how to push your buttons and continue to do so every time you see them?" he let out a sigh and leaned against the edge of the balcony.

"Sure, no one can drive you crazy like your own family but there's no one who will support or love you more, deep down." She put her arm across his back and a sign of comfort.

"Hmm. I wouldn't know about that. Sorry for being so moody, I should just be more grateful but in case I get too drunk tonight there's something I need to talk to you about." He noticed that she was biting her lip, looking worried. "It's not a big deal. I just need a small favour."

"Ok. And you can't tell me now?"

"Oh no. The walls have ears, there everywhere." He motioned behind him. She leant against the balcony as well standing very close to him as the wind picked up. He noticed her shivering and started to take his jacket off when she looked up at him with her big brown eyes and told him wordlessly to stop.

Maybe it was dealing with his family, maybe it was the atmosphere or the fact that she looked so pretty with tendrils of her dark hair falling down her face or that she was standing so close to him. Or maybe, it was the fact that it was meant to be, right here right now but suddenly Chris felt the urge to kiss her and his lips came crashing down on to her own.

It wasn't a kiss to change the world. It didn't set off fireworks. The world didn't stop spinning and neither of them felt that as though their hearts were going to leap out of their chests. It was, however nice, very nice, but both of them realised that it wasn't _the _kiss. However at that moment neither of them minded. They had both decided that maybe their standards were too high for this particular moment.

"Can we get out of here?" he whispered, close to her ears but both of them knew that it wasn't meant to be seductive but more of a friendly thing.

"Sure."It was actually fairly late and she's had enough of dancing and the company she was with. She had barely seen Jane all night.

"I won't be able to drive you home, I'm sorry. I've had too much to drink but I'll find a cab or something for you."

"No that's ok. I'm sure I can get a lift with Jane."

"Really? You don't feel that she might be getting a lift with someone else, someone who might be related to me?"

Lizzie blushed at the idea of how awkward that would be. Chris laughed and led her back into the hall.

"How's about we blow this joint?"

They walked on the outside edge of the dancing both of them deciding not to tell anyone that they were cutting out early. Collins was imposing himself on the eldest Mr Bingley, Charlie and Jane were dancing together and Darcy was watching them whilst trying to dance with Caroline so was having to steer her more forcibly than usual. Charlotte was in the bathroom as was Claire Hurst so nobody who could have noticed really noticed.

They had just gone down the stairs and so were away from other people when Chris realised that Lizzie didn't have a coat. Neither did he, but his jacket of his tux would keep him warm whereas she would be freezing in her dress. She had already turned him down once when he had tried to give her his jacket and so he grabbed her suddenly and pulled her off to the left where the cloak room was.

"Chris! Where are you taking me?"

"I'm just getting you a coat."

"But I didn't bring one with me!"

"Like that matters, I'm a Bingley remember! This is our ball. We can get anything we want."

"Fine. I'll just grab Jane's coat. I brought my phone so I'll text her and that'll be fine."

"You bought your phone? Planning on bailing on yet another date? Who was going to ring you this time, your secret boyfriend?"

"Haha. See, I had this theory that you might be this crazy psychopath and a girl's gotta have protection." She flashed a grin at him.

"You bought a phone with you yet not a coat? So I could be planning to murder you in a public event even though you know me fairly well, yet the idea that you might need to walk outside where it is cold and that you might need to stay warm is ridiculous?"

She just laughed at him.

There was a clerk wearing a maroon waist coat and white blouse black trousers at the front desk who obviously knew Chris and smiled, letting them through even though they hadn't checked in any coats originally and didn't have a number to give her.

"Right," Lizzie started flicking through various coats. "I have no idea what coat Jane has with her."

"Jane Bennet?" the clerk who was named Amy asked. "She got here early with Mr Charles Bingley to set up and I believe that she left her coat in one of the offices upstairs."

"Oh I guess I could take Charlotte's then,"

"Charlotte...?" she was holding a clipboard with a list of names on.

"Lucas."

"I'm afraid she also left her coat in an office upstairs. She and Mr Collins also arrived early before the cloak room was officially open."

Lizzie wondered briefly how she knew all these things but then realised that was what they were paid for. She had become friends with a young woman named Juliet who used to be Charles' father's secretary before the heart attack. What had started out as a simple job of answering phones and reorganizing files had turned into knowing exactly how and when he liked his coffee, when his wife's birthday was and what she would be buying for him to give to her. The Bingley's were lazy in that way. They had surrounded themselves by people to do things for them that they disliked.

If she had been any other guests she would have just have to get cold but now because of Chris she wouldn't and seeing how cold it was out there she didn't really mind.

"How about this one?" Chris held up a mink coat.

"Christopher, I am not wearing fur! Besides, do you even know who that belongs to?"

"No, that's the fun of it!"

She sighed and shook her head at him.

"What about this one. I believe its Caroline's. You wouldn't believe how much it cost. Actually," he examined it more closely, "This may be the coat that she was on a waiting list to get. Wouldn't you just love to imagine the hissy fit that she will have when she knows it's missing. Personally, I'm getting giddy just thinking about it."

She laughed, that was a good image.

"And," he paused dramatically, "I bet if we sweet talked Darcy we could here all about it from a front row seat."

"Remember I know you're full name now and will use it when angry," she pointed a finger at him, "Christopher James Bingley. I am not stealing your sister's coat especially as it probably cost the same as an average persons yearly rent. It's wrong."

"It's not like we wouldn't return it." He implored.

"That's not the point!"

"Ok, ok, ok I guess you're right. I left my wallet and car keys in here and I have to sort something out so I'll meet you by the door."

She gave him a dubious look but left anyway.

Minutes later he arrived at the door holding a grey, tailored male coat in one hand and his jacket in the other. She raised her eyebrows at him in disapproval.

"Relax. Look, now you get a choice either you can wear my jacket and I'll wear the coat or the other way around. I can always claim when I return it to him that I thought it was mine."

She shrugged. She knew it was wrong but hopefully the owner wouldn't miss it too much.

"Ok I'll take the coat." Chris watched as she shifted into her. It was slightly large but suited her really well in a way that certain woman could pull off. Many men found it extremely attractive to see a woman walk around in nothing but a man's shirt and Chris could see that she looked very attractive in this particular man's coat. He wondered what that man in particular would say if he could see her.

Lizzie pushed up the sleeves of the coat and sniffed the jacket around her; it smelled really good and asked, "Where do you want to go?"

"Hmm I have an idea..." He grabbed her by the hand and pulled her along the road to the nearest bus stop. Suddenly a number nine pulled up. Lizzie starred at in amazement; she hadn't been on a route master in forever.

Chris bought two tickets from the conductor and they steeped on the back, Chris helping her to lift up her long skirt so as to not get it caught.

"I miss these." She said looking around noticing that they were a large number of tourists on board. It was late at night but people were still going to Trafalgar Square. She wondered if this was the destination that Chris was planning.

They rode the bus to Trafalgar Square which was about as quiet as Lizzie had ever seen but then it would be at this time of night. The theatres would have finished, maybe a while ago and many people didn't hang around after. Despite the fact that it was late there were still people milling around the four giant black lion statues that surround nelson's column. Chris led her down Admiralty arch past the horse guard's parade and down the strand. It was peaceful and quiet yet at the same time it was still alive and buzzing. Lizzie had always had a minor fear of walking in London at night alone. She had come from a small, relatively crime free town and big city life was quite a change. London was the third largest city in the world after New York and Moscow and it was strange.

They walked linked together and Lizzie was very grateful that she had the coat with her. She still wasn't sure where Chris was taking her. In Trafalgar square they had made a slight detour to the Tesco express that was open late and had picked up some hot chocolate which was know keeping them warm.

They had walked the entire length of the strand without saying anything, just holding hands together in a comfortable silence. Lizzie still didn't know where Chris was taking her, what the favour that he wanted was, whether or not he was going to blow off steam about the ball or just why he had felt the need to take her out of there?

They made a right turn after Savoy Street onto a road which name she couldn't remember which lead onto Waterloo Bridge when Chris began talking, "You know London is my favourite city in the whole world. I have been everywhere in the world and yet I love it. Why?" it didn't seem like a question that should be answered.

She smiled at him unsure at what he was talking about. They had now reached the middle of the bridge and were looking across the river.

"This is my favourite spot in the whole of London." He paused looking at her patient smile. "Sorry I didn't mean to drag you out here. Maybe it's a good idea that you have your phone on you." He laughed.

"This is your favourite spot in London?"

"Yeah."

"Wow we have way too much in common. It's mine too. I actually prefer it a sunset or sunrise. My dad always said that he wanted his ashes scattered here."

"Because of the song, right? The Kinks?"

She nodded in amazed agreement and they both started humming the old song from the sixties laughing at each other with goofy laughs. It was at the moment that Lizzie honestly didn't really care that she didn't feel anything special for Chris the fact that she had managed to show him her favourite spot and that they could connect over a song that had first come out over 40 years ago.

"So you had a favour you wanted to ask me?"

"Yeah," he had been leaning against the rail but now turned towards her. "Oh god, where to begin? Don't worry," he said as he saw her face grow anxious. "It's not that big a deal for you. I need you to read my resume. I want to leave Bingley Corporations."

"You want to leave Bingley Corporations?" Lizzie's mind was boggling. Chris seemed so easy going, did he really have that many issues with his family? Or was this not a recent decision.

"Yeah, sorry it's just you are literally the only person I can talk to about it all. It's not that I don't like working there. It's just its been bugging me day after day and I know that one morning I'm going to wake up and not be able to take it anymore." He let out a frustrated sigh.

"What exactly is bothering you?"

"Everything!" he yelled as she was taken aback. "Sorry. It's just I'm so sick that I was just given this job because of my surname and that I've been expected to do this ever since I was born. The fact that Caroline is basically useless yet we pay her the top end of the normal salary for someone who is actually doing their job. The fact that my mother makes Clare feel like crap because she's not a size two and she's not as fabulous and amazing as Caroline yet my mother is the same person as she is. The fact that Charlie is the head of the freaking company yet the moment Caroline suggests anything he will change his opinion to fit with her."

"But what are you going to do?"

"I don't know. I don't know. "he whined, "Just anything." He paused. "Lizzie do you have feelings for me?"

"Yes of course I do." She did, just not the feelings that he was probably referring to.

"So you could honestly see yourself spending the rest of your life with me?"

"Um." What on earth was he talking about? This sounded almost like a marriage proposal.

"No, you couldn't because you don't feel like that for me. There's no connection. I mean we have a connection but not in a romantic sense, right?" He was now concerned that as he had gone off randomly on her he had hurt her feelings.

"Yes," she let out a breath of relief. They both smiled shyly and awkwardly at each other.

"Are you aware that in my world our relationship would seem perfectly fine? Happier than most? Except of course you wouldn't be allowed to work, and we would have to have children right away, and as I'm guessing and don't hate me for this, you didn't go to private school so the match would probably be frowned on by most."

She smiled at him, sympathetically but she could tell that maybe he was exaggerating slightly. She could also tell that he knew that too by the sheepish grin that he gave her that he knew it too.

"Fine, ok. It's not that bad. I would just love to go to one event without having someone remind me of the corporate picnic of 89 where I ate the entire chocolate cake all by myself. Or comment on how gangly I was as a teenager."

"We all have moments like that. I had an Auntie, who for about five years as a teenager would tell me how much weight I'd lost just because I was a slightly chubby child. I mean I wasn't fat or anything but every time she would say that to me..." she shrugged.

"Maybe the musical Sunday in the Park with George can turn into Meltdown on the Bridge with Chris."

They walked across the bridge and then back again and wandered down some of the smaller roads, sometimes talking sometimes not planning what Chris could do with his life. He decided that he would like to be a "choreographic animator" which was a person who would draw and design the dances for cartoons such as Disney films. He wasn't sure if this was the right title for the job or whether or not it was actually a job, but he had heard a character make it up on an old comedy program and he thought it sounded perfect for him. He thought about being an acrobat, fireman or hairdresser as he had found out that they were amongst the happiest workers. He also wanted to be a muse. He imagined that he could influence and inspire the next great, "imagine being the person motivate the next Picasso or Michelangelo?"

"So you're now gay?"

"Excuse me?"

"Michelangelo was almost definitely gay and do you really want influence someone so that they draw your eye coming out of your forehead?"

They continued to walk until they reached a small privately owned cinema which was owned by a friend of Chris. As it was late or almost early he let them pick a film- they decided on Annie Hall. Lizzie was begging to realise that Chris actually knew everyone in the city.

Afterwards as they were walking around London still in their evening clothes despite the fact that the sun was attempting to poke its way through the cloud they realised they hadn't eaten in a while- in fact neither of them had had anything since their hot chocolate. Chris pulled her into a greasy spoon which in her opinion looked like an absolute dive but you could get a full blown English breakfast for £3.50.

Once they'd got something in their stomachs they soon began to talk rapidly mainly about London and travel. Chris was amazed to discover that she had not been outside Europe.

"Really?"

"Why is that so surprising?"

"But you said as we were coming out of the cinema that you had always wanted to see New York? Why haven't you?"

"It's not like I could just go, just because I wanted to."

"Of course you could!" he made it sound so simple.

"Right, sure. When was your first trip outside Europe? Let me guess, you were under ten."

"Yeah. I was two. My father had to fly to New York for a business meeting and so he decided to take Charlie and me with him. Apparently I was so irritable on the plain that he paid an air hostess to sit with me for the entire flight. "

"Wow. Your childhood so sounds so different from mine, from anyone who I know."

"Not really. That's the most glamorous it got. It was normally pretty average."

"Still. No, the real reason is, when I was growing up we didn't have the money. I mean we we're well enough off we went on holidays to France, Italy or Portugal you know places in Europe but we would only have one main holiday abroad a year, possibly another city break but not likely. We were ok but the year we remodelled the kitchen we didn't go abroad. Stuff like that. "

"Well you've both turned out perfectly normal."

"I was going to go to New York." She mused taking a sip from her coffee cup. "After sixth form with a couple of friends but we ended going to Greece for two weeks. I was going to take a gap year but I didn't in the end. There was either never enough money or time to go and then when I had the money and the time, after I got published there was never anybody to go with. Jane had just started her new job and it wouldn't have been right for her to leave."

"Did you have to go with someone?"

"Yes," she let out a small laugh, "my mother's rules. I had to go with someone preferably male, over six foot and trained in martial arts. My Father still prefers to believe that I still think all boys are yucky. Which in a way, I think I do. Besides I'd want to go with someone, it would be so weird to be by yourself for that long and this is coming from me and I like being alone.

They continued in this friendly matter as they made their way back to Chris's car when Lizzie realised that she had no idea what time it was. Flicking her wrist to where her watch normally was she remembered that she hadn't worn one as it didn't match her dress. She dug into her little beaded clutch purse and pulled out her phone. Waiting for it to warm up she heard Chris laugh as her welcoming message came up "Don't Panic!"

"I never would have pegged you for a Douglas Adams fan."

"Yeah well I am and I think I may have reason to panic." The light was flashing at her:

"You have four missed calls. 0 unknown."

Checking them she found 3 were from Jane and one from Charlotte.

She listened to the oldest from Jane first.

"Lizzie. I'm starting to get worried now. Please call or text me when you get this message. Charlie thinks that you may have gone back to Chris's place as neither of you are answering your phones but his cars still here. Just check in with someone as soon as you can or I'll tell Mum on you!"

That joke at the end made her seem ok but Lizzie could tell from her voice that Jane was worried. At this moment Lizzie was almost annoyed. If both she and Chris had disappeared together couldn't someone work out that she was perfectly safe? What if they had escaped together to go off and sleep together? Would she then be expected to ring Jane? It wasn't like people didn't know that they were dating.

Still, she thought for a minute, as her big sister Jane did have every right to be concerned for her, she would be the same.

Realising what the messages on Lizzie's phone were about, Chris reached across to the glove compartment to where he had left his phone to check his own messages of which they were only two, both from Charlie.

"Hey man, just wondering where you've disappeared to. Could you let me know, it's just the bartender remembers he got you a lot to drink and I just hope you're not driving. Speak to you soon."

They both raised their eyebrows at each other, neither were sure what they should do. Surely it was too early or late to be ringing them but what if their siblings were still awake and were worrying maybe they should. Chris decided that Charlie wouldn't mind being woken up and if Jane was there then it would kill two birds with one stone.

Charlie picked up the phone after three rings.

"Hey where the hell have you been?" It was unusual for Charlie to get worked up when Chris realised that it was Caroline. Their voices weren't at all similar it was just the fact that she was talking in a hissing voice very fast.

"This is so typical of you to just take off and disappear without letting anyone know where you are."

"Excuse me?"

There was a sudden muffled sound in the background and Chris could hear two people arguing over the phone.

"Hey it's Charlie." Chris could now hear Charlie walking away, "sorry about that. She's getting a little annoyed, she wanted to leave earlier but Mother thought that she should say. The party didn't end until a while ago, Uncle Roberts stayed too long, but what's new? Then we found out that the labels got mixed up and the non alcoholic punch was actually alcoholic and so everyone stayed here. Weird situation but Jane was worried about Lizzie," he paused at this moment realising that he hadn't asked about her. "I'm presuming she's with you."

"Yeah, actually we're right outside. We'll be inside in a couple of minutes."

They walked together inside, Lizzie forgetting that she was still wearing the coat but unfortunately for her, Caroline, who seemed to have memorised every item of Darcy's clothing, immediately pointed it out.

"Just what do you think you are wearing? Are you aware that does not belong to you?"

"oh um, sorry." Lizzie at once began to remove the coat, her cheeks flushing red partially because she had just walked in the cold but also because she was embarrassed.

"Oh Darcy, I'm sorry," Chris was trying to help her out. "I didn't realise it was yours." He had known, " At first I thought it was mine and it wasn't until I looked at it properly that I realised it wasn't. I'm terribly sorry, I didn't mean to."

"Sure, that explain why _Elizabeth," _her voice took on a sneering tone at this point. "Was wearing it." It was clear that Caroline's infamous short temperature had run out.

"I'm sure she was just cold Caroline," Darcy had decided that he's had enough of her and her irritating behaviour, besides he couldn't help but notice how good Elizabeth looked in it. "It's really not a big deal. I would have been stuck here anyway." He took the coat from her outstretched hand.

"Charles I'm sure we're all sober enough now and I don't really see any point in staying any longer. Caroline are, you ready to leave?" it wasn't really a question; he didn't fancy staying around shooting the breeze with two couples both of which were obviously not right for each other. Jane was clearly using Charlie and Chris and Lizzie was such a bizarre pairing that it clearly made no sense to anyone and they were obviously just pretending.

He and Caroline left together after talking to Charlie, which allowed Lizzie the chance to apologise to Jane and ask who Charlotte had gone home with, she was surprised and mildly repulsed by the answer that she had gone with Collins whose hotel was only a short taxi ride away.

They all left one by one, it seemed strange that they had all stayed so late but as the passed the hallway where Amy was she mentioned that briefly that the majority of the guests hadn't left till not long ago. It was weird, when she was younger Jane had been invited to a really great party by a friend who both of them knew and Lizzie had been exceptionally jealous that Jane had got to go but she didn't feel as though she had missed out on anything this night by cutting out early.

Chris drove her back home, listening to the radio, both of them were slightly talked out from their evening. He walked her to the door when he realised that there were a few issues that needed to be worked out. He was about to speak when she invited him in.

They sat down at the kitchen counter and Lizzie pulled out some orange juice when Chris cleared his throat nervously. However at that point she beat him to it again.

"I'm just going to change out of this dress, help yourself to anything."

She walked into her bedroom and tried to decide on what she was going to wear. She pulled out some jeans and an old top but then decided that what she really wanted to where were her pyjamas.

Minutes later she re-entered the room wearing a pair of strawberry bottoms with a white vest top.

"Doesn't it feel like so much later? As though it's three o' clock on a Sunday afternoon and you're just settling down to watch a film and finish off the weekend homework." She yawned.

"Yeah I know I feel so tired, yet it's so early. I feel like having a completely lazy day."

"Why don't we?" she hadn't intended to ask him round but it would be nice to have company and just slob around together. "You pick a film," she gestured to the shelves where a series of DVDs were stacked up. "I'll grab us a snack, pop tarts ok?"

He nodded and went over to the shelf looking for a film whilst she shoved the strawberry flavoured pop tarts in the toaster.

She came back into the room carrying two plates whilst he held up three dvds, "Beaches, Bullet or Billy Elliot. I've decided that we have to have a themed film fest and we're going to go through the alphabet. There were no good A's in your collection."

"Hmm..." she scanned his choices critically. "I don't fancy any of them , lets skip to Casablanca but why don't we watch the car chase from Bullet and a couple of scenes from Billy Elliot."

"Ok, then." He smiled at her way of watching films.

They settled on the sofa after Chris had put the film into load. Just as the opening music was starting he paused the dvd realising that there was something important he needed to talk to her about.

"Um Lizzie, about what I said on the bridge?"

"Which part?"

"The part about my feelings for you..." he paused to gauge her reaction. "Look it's not that I don't have any feelings for you, I just....."

"Don't feel that special connection towards me."

"Yeah, God I'm sorry Lizzie. I want to, I want to so badly. You're this great, amazing person who it would be so easy to be in love with and yet....."

"You're not."

"I'm sorry. I can leave if you want."

"Don't be silly Chris. I felt the same way. Annoying isn't it?"

He pressed play again on the remote control but it hadn't been playing for more than a minute when he paused it again. Lizzie turned to him annoyed.

"I tell you what, if neither of us are married by the time we are forty we should get together."

"Isn't that what Chandler and Monica arranged to do in Friends?"

"Yes and look what happened to them. If my brother was getting married in London and I got really drunk we could end up together, in love anyway."

"Chris," Lizzie paused with a laugh, "You are aware that if it was your brother who was getting married that would make you Monica?"

"Oh well."

They watched the bits of their first chosen films and then put in Casablanca which Lizzie declared that they couldn't skip parts off as it was such a classic when Chris turned to her and asked,

"Hey, what where your mother's specifications for a travelling companion?"

"Oh that was just a joke she made. Something about being over six foot, trained in martial arts, oh and I think she said if he could finance the trip then that would make him ideal."

"Are you aware, that I actually fit the description perfectly? So, how about it?"

"How about what?"

"You and Me. Going travelling together?"

**I don't know how you feel about hearing about places that you may not necessarily know- some people like it but others find may find it confusing. If there's anything that you want to ask me about London, England, whatever- just let me know? Route masters are an old type of bus that they got rid of all but 2.**

**Please Review- ideas suggestions are great.**

**Again I'm not sure when the next chapter will be up. Why is it that when I'm supposed to be revising/ working I always want to write?**


	9. And just when things can't get any worse

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And just when things couldn't get anyone worse....

**Life isn't fair- it's fairer than death that's all. William Goldberg.**

The next morning, at around 11'o clock, (Lizzie had felt the need to sleep in, she and Chris had made it a late night despite the fact that neither of them had slept the night before)there was a knock on her door.

Grumbling slightly she hobbled to the door after stubbing her toe on her dresser, she opened the door to find Charlotte standing there looking nervous.

"Hey, what are you doing here?" she paused, "Sorry, that sounded unwelcoming, come in."

"I have something to tell you." Charlotte fumbled with her bag; she seemed nervous.

"Ok, "She now had here head in the fridge, "Do you want something to drink?" She called back.

"Lizzie it's quite important."

"Ok," Lizzie had found the orange juice- right at the back from some unknown reason but was now staring more intently at Charlotte.

"I'm getting married." There was a very long pause which both women were aware of.

It was almost as if she was watching the situation from a different view, not an actual part of the scene and Lizzie knew despite having only ever seen it on t.v, that this quiet almost embarrassed way of telling her was not right or normal. Shouldn't Charlotte be screaming and crying and hugging her? Shouldn't there be an air of excitement?

"You are?" It also wasn't right that she should have to ask the next question, "To whom?"

"Nigel Collins."

"What?" Now she knew that this wasn't normal. Was Charlotte pulling some very elaborate joke.

"Look Lizzie, don't be angry." Charlotte was pleading, almost begging her. "You don't understand."

"Well then explain it to me" Lizzie had her arms folded across her chest, waiting impatiently for whatever lame excuse Charlotte was bound to give her.

"He loves me."

"He loves you?" Lizzie was exceptionally sceptical.

"Yes, well he says he loves me and isn't that enough? I know that he'll care for me and look after me and make sure that I don't have to go without, and for me that's enough."

"That's enough for you?" Lizzie was angry and incredulous.

"Lizzie, I'm not like you. I don't have gorgeous guys just falling at my feet. Not everything goes my way and if I say yes to him, I'll make him happy and I can learn to be happy. I don't want to be alone," at this point her voice rose an octave and there was a desperate look in her eye. "I want someone beside me to look out for me. I need someone to lean on."

"But you don't love him, Charlotte. It's not fair to him or to you that you do this." She seemed to forget the fact that Charlotte was marrying the ridiculous Collins but the fact that Charlotte was marrying anyone at all who she didn't love.

"Fair? Hasn't anyone told you, Lizzie, life isn't fair? Well not for me anyway." She sounded so bitter that all Lizzie could do was stand there open mouthed.

"You know all I wanted was for you to be supportive of me, but you couldn't even do that. I know that this is not every girl's fairy tale situation but that's the way life goes sometimes."

And with that, she turned and slammed the door behind her leaving a shell shocked Lizzie.

She couldn't believe it, literally _could not_ wrap her mind around it. The fact that Charlotte had said yes to _Collins _of all people was unbelievable. She knew that Charlotte always seemed to be looking for a boyfriend- didn't feel that she was defined unless she was a couple, one half of a pair. She also had lower standards than either herself or Jane but Lizzie couldn't understand why she was doing this. She hadn't ever thought about it before but she realised that Charlotte and Clare Hurst were a lot alike.

Realising that although she hadn't been supportive to her friend but that she, herself needed comfort, Lizzie crept next door in her pyjamas hoping that she wouldn't meet anyone, and knocked on Jane's door.

When it was finally open after much longer than Jane usually took, Lizzie was shocked to see that she too was wearing pyjamas (Jane was an early riser and always got dressed even on weekends) and had puffy red eyes. All her problems concerning Charlotte's supposed upcoming nuptials went out the window.

"What happened?"

Jane didn't say anything but merely collapsed onto Lizzie in a hug, pulling her into the room and shutting the door behind them.

"Charlie broke up with me." Lizzie's eyes widened at this statement but also when she saw the state of the apartment. Neat freak Jane had left an ice cream tub dripping on her coffee table, although it probably wouldn't matter as the amount of used tissues that were lying around would mop it up. There were clothes lying around and a bunch of films had been pulled out of a cupboard and were strewn across the floor.

Lizzie knew that she had to get to the bottom of this; there was no way that Charlie would just dump Jane out of the blue like that when he had been so in love with her. She was hoping that the normally very intelligent Jane had somehow got mixed up and was wrong.

"He sent me this," she handed her a printout out of an email.

_Jane_

_Sorry, can't write much right now- will soon be getting on the plane. The way things are with the company I'm going to be really busy in Australia or possibly the States over the next few months and I don't think that's it's fair to either of us if we continue this. It's not as if long distant relationships lasts so I think a clean break before anyone gets too invested is best._

_C_

Lizzie couldn't believe what she was reading. How did he not know if he was going to be busy in Australia or "possibly that states"? 'Well Charlie, she thought angrily, there's this paper thing in your hand called a ticket which should tell you where you're flying to. Also, why was he saying that he didn't have much time, was he deliberately trying to reinforce the fact that he was going away? Did he not realise that for international flights of that length you had to be at the airport 2-3 hours before taking off. What was he doing for the other two hours fifty seven minutes whilst he spent the three minutes which was all the time that he had clearly given this email? Shopping? Was that more important than his relationship?

"How did this all happen? Did you know he was leaving?" Lizzie couldn't understand why Charlie would just disappear- surely he had responsibilities? Had Chris known and deliberately not told her?

"He got a phone call that the new office may not work so well in Australia but he didn't think that it was likely that he would need to go over there- he was either going to send Chris or was going to go over for only a couple of weeks. The company decided that they're going to pull out of the Australia deal; but they want to focus on the New York branch- especially with the credit crunch." Jane's voice was sniffley but she sounded as though she had memorised these facts and wasn't interested in it.

She went to pick up a few tissues when suddenly she broke down, crying.

"I thought he was the _one. _I thought he loved me and that I meant something special to him." She was clutching on to Lizzie desperately who had no idea of what she should do. She had never seen Jane this bad.

"Well it's obvious to me that he's made the biggest mistake of his life, and you will show him that. Right, sit down here." She was being slightly forceful but decided that it was the best option. She went to Jane's room and grabbed her duvet. She made sure that this was wrapped around Jane and then popped next door to her own flat to grab some more supplies.

Jane was very healthy so Lizzie was pretty sure that she wasn't sure that she would have much chocolate, ice cream or possible alcohol. She also grabbed her own duvet, a couple of films which she then dumped everything that she was holding at her feet whilst with a flash of genius she picked up her phone to ring her mother.

"Hello, Bennet Residence, whose speaking please?" Lizzie had to smile at the way that her mother Tilly (Matilda) Bennet answered the phone. Even if she knew who was calling or someone was calling at three in the morning she would answer this way. It was nice knowing that at the moment when she couldn't rely on anything that her mother would always answer the phone that way.

"Mum, its Lizzie"

"Lizzie, you haven't rung in ages. How are you?"

"I'm fine but I can't talk now. Look you know Jane was dating this guy, Charlie?"

"Yes....she told me about him a couple of weeks ago"

"Well um," Lizzie wasn't sure that Jane would want her spreading the news of her breakup but this was their mother and she had a favour to ask her. "They broke up." Lizzie bit her lip. She had wanted her sister to comfort her but it had ended up in a different situation and now she realised that she needed comfort and no one could tell her that it was all going to be ok quite like her mother.

"Oh, poor baby. How's she doing?"

"Not good. Can we come over?"

"Of Course, you never need to ask that. If one of you call's me when your on the road and I'll get dinner/ lunch ready. What time are you thinking of coming?" The girls lived about a three hour drive away.

"Um I'm not sure. Jane doesn't know that I'm ringing you. I think she may stay the night."

"Ok then not a problem," her mother was slipping into a practical mode, "Right I'll make up the beds, are you staying too?"

"No, I don't think so Mum, I need to get back for work. I'll call in sick for Jane."

"Ok then. So how about I make you girls you're favourites. I'll start on your brownies and how about apple crumble after roast dinner? We can all watch a film together. I'll send your Dad out for one and maybe some good ice-cream."

Lizzie smiled, her mother, despite driving her insane occasionally during her teenager years, was sometimes completely amazing and intuitive in knowing what her daughters wanted.

They arranged when they were coming and Lizzie hung up and returned next door not bothering to pick up the things at her feet and went next door. It was a sign of how depressed Jane was that she didn't even comment on how long Lizzie had been gone or the fact that she hadn't brought anything back.

"Ok, you need to get up."

Jane turned to her in astonishment.

"What?"

"I've rung Mum, and we're going over there. If you want you can stay the night but we're going. I'm going to get changed but you don't have to."

"I can't stay the night. I have work tomorrow and of course I have to get changed, I can't ride in my pyjamas."

"You're not going to work tomorrow. There's no way that you're up to it. Besides, you know that I can imitate your voice so you don't really have a choice."

"Fine," Jane gave her a small smile the first that Lizzie had seen her give all day.

20 minutes later both girls were ready. They had both changed, Jane had packed a bag, mainly full of slouchy clothes and pyjamas as well as a couple of films that she wanted to watch. Lizzie picked up Jane's duvet that they could use in the car, her secret supply of sweets, including liquorice wands which were her favourite and a collection of her . She debated about whether or not to pack alcohol as a joke or creep into Jane's room and make sure that Mr. Snuggles was in her bag.

They made their way down to the car, Jane horrified by Lizzie's suggestion that for every road sign they past she take a swig of Vodka.

"A boy dumped me Lizzie. That does not justify drinking alcohol at eleven o' clock in the morning."

Climbing into the car, wrapping the duvet around her the set off blaring loud, cheesy music as loud as possible, that they could both sing along to even if it was a little half hearted from both of them. Lizzie decided that maybe by distracting Jane then it would help her feel better and told her about Charlotte. Jane however wasn't as shocked as she had been about the whole situation and decided that ultimately it was her life and that they shouldn't try to interfere with it. Her final suggestion, which Lizzie found mildly shocking to discover the way that she was thinking, was that Charlotte may not go through it, and anyway there was always divorce.

Lizzie was very grateful that she had bought the as Jane wasn't very talkative and it was going to be a lonely ride home.

It was when they actually reached their house at the end of a cul-de-sac in a quite suburb that Lizzie remembered how nostalgic she was. She loved the fact that nothing had changed in her home- that she had lived in since she was three. She would hate if her parents sold it or really if anything within it changed. She liked being stuck in the past that way.

Their mother had obviously been watching for them, as they had just pulled up and hadn't even opened their doors when the front door burst open and both the parent's came out to help them unload the car.

After the various hugs and kisses that were mandatory they made their way into the house, Tilly talking to Jane about what she had been up to and other mundane things such as the garden whilst Robert Bennet pulled Lizzie back to ask,

"How's she doing?"

"Not good."

"Do I need to make some calls to have someone in London beaten up?" He put on a fake gangster voice.

"He's not actually in London anymore it's either New York or somewhere in Australia; I think that's half the problem that he didn't even tell her. It came completely out of the blue."

"He moved? See that's the great thing about my daughters, there so darn memorable you have to move continents to get over them."

"Hmm I'm not sure that's the best thing about the Bennet girls, remember we do have amazing hair."

"I still don't think that's hit the point yet," He paused pretending to look thoughtful; "Oh I've got it! It must be that you have an absolute, amazing father."

"Yeah? I'm sure we do. It'd be nice to meet that guy someday."

"Funny."

They were now in the dining room and Jane was helping load the table. It was a nice, pleasant family meal but they were all avoiding the issue that the two girls had come to escape from. Lizzie mentioned briefly that Charlotte was getting married which then went to the subject of the Collins and the various other neighbours that had at one point lived in their street.

The meal finished and their father made some excuse about having some work to finish off in his study, leaving the girls alone to talk.

It was obviously a special occasion as their mother didn't make them clear the table or help wash up as they went off into the living room.

Jane still hadn't talked really, maybe it was the fact that there were several things that she could tell her sister but not her mother and vice versa. They decided to watch a film and ended up choosing 50 first dates. It wasn't anyone's favourite but they all liked it well enough.

Not long after the film had finished Lizzie decided that she really ought to be thinking about heading back when the phone rang. There was that strange, chaotic moment that always seemed to happen in their house. Robert Bennet who had got stuck in work yelled over the landing, "Phone."

"Are you going to get it?" Tilly Bennet called back

"Can't you? I'm a bit busy now."

The phone continued to ring whilst she made her way to the hall- dashing so that the person on the other end didn't hang up. Lizzie used this opportunity to asses Jane who reassured her that she was once again fine.

They couldn't hear all of the conversation but they could tell from the volume and speed of her voice that Tilly Bennet was excited. She came back into the room, looking flushed.

"Girls you will never guess who was on the phone! Andrea."

Both girls grinned, Andrea was their Aunt, married to their mother's younger brother James who lived in New York. She had always been their cooler, trendy Aunt who they had gone to for advice and who had given the best presents. The couple hadn't always lived in New York but had only recently moved when they had both been given amazing career opportunities and wanted a change of life. James was an architect and Andrea actually ran a company similar to Jane's which was part of the reason why Jane had been inspired to follow that career path.

It was strange that she was ringing though, as there was the time difference and calls were very expensive; she would only ring if it was an emergency which from the excited tone of their mother it couldn't be.

"She's over here. An emergency work trip. She's going to be visiting in a couple of days, maybe tomorrow."

Jane looked very happy for a few moments, for the first time that day, looking forward to seeing her Aunt.

It was at that moment that Lizzie felt a little jealous of Jane but then realised that she was being a bit petty and that she, too might be able to see her Aunt soon.

Jane was slightly cheered up and knew that Lizzie had a long drive home and so was encouraged by her to get going.

The drive wasn't so bad- there wasn't much traffic on a Sunday night and without Jane she could yell at other drivers and the radio as much as she wanted.

Throwing her keys on the side as she walked in, Lizzie couldn't believe how tired she was when all she had been doing was sitting down all day. There was a little beeping on her phone- meaning that she had a message.

"Hi, Lizzie its Sandra," she frowned at the phone, Sandra was her editor, there was no reason as to why she should be ringing. "I'm afraid we're going to have to reschedule the meeting. It's been really busy here later and the publishers have been called into another meeting. I'm really sorry."

Great, she thought angrily, that was the second time that they had decided to postpone- definitely not an encouraging sign. Now feeling very fed up, sorry for herself and slightly cold she ran herself a bath, using some of her birthday bubble bath and cried briefly, glad that she had done so because in that strange, therapeutic way that she would never be able to understand afterwards she felt so much better.

......

Arriving at work the next morning she realised that she would no longer be seeing Charlie in the corridor of lifts as she went to her cubicle. It was a strange realisation and brought a fresh wave of anger towards him; not because he had dumped I, he had every right to do so even though she personally thought he was a fool but at the way that he had dumped her. She wondered briefly, as she hung her coat over her chair, whether there would be a staff announcement today or a memo sent around, would there be a replacement for him?

There was a knocking on her side wall and she swivelled round in her chair to see Chris holding two cups of coffee.

"Wanna play hooky?"

"Hooky? I just got here. If I were skiving surely I wouldn't have turned up." She hadn't snapped at him but there was a tone of annoyance in her voice that she wasn't sure he had picked up on.

"C'mon five minutes? It'll take that long for computer to get started and nobody does any work on a Monday anyway. I have gossip."

She sighed, following him anyway. She had arrived a little early and she was a fast worker so it didn't matter too much. Chris was her superior and a Bingley; she could always say that he had forced her.

She sat down in his office and took the coffee that he gave her.

"So?"

"So, what?"

"So, aren't you the least bit excited as to know what my gossip is?"

"Could it have anything to do with the fact that you're brother has left to go to New York? Or Sydney? "

"What! How did you know? And it's New York by the way."

"I told me."

"Oh. Typical that Charlie would tell his girlfriend before his brother- I only found out late last night. How is she?"

"Not good."

Why had Chris asked such an obvious question? How did he expect her to be? Or was he spying for his brother?

"Yeah? I've never done long distance myself but I guess it would be hard. Still, you never know," his tone got lighter and friendlier, "it could make them far closer, although it would be hard to imagine that."

"Chris, they're not doing long distance. Charlie dumped her."

"What? No he wouldn't do that. You've seen them together, maybe she got it wrong."

"That's what I said," she muttered, "but he did dump her, really." She nodded. "Quite callously as well" she said the last part under her breath.

"But.... he was so in love with her." Chris wasn't really talking to Lizzie at the moment, just wondering out loud.

"Yeah, well I guess he wasn't."

"I'm sorry, Lizzie I really didn't know. If I had I would have tried to talk some sense into him." It seemed clear that Chris was no longer in the mood to talk about gossip so she crept out of the office glad that he hadn't known as it made her feel better about him.

They didn't see each other much the rest of the morning he was in meetings about management of the company- it wasn't his responsibility someone else would be running the main branch but as he was a Bingley he had to be kept involved. He was secretly relieved that he wouldn't have to run it as he had just received some news. News that he was looking forward to talking to Lizzie about....

.........

"Oi Bennet!" it was about twelve o' clock and Chris had stuck his head over the top of the cubicle.

"So I've been reduced to a surname now?"

"Yep. Thought it gave the place a very All the President's men type feel."

"All the Presidents men?" she doubted that.

"Fine," he said sullenly, "Harry Potter, then. The other sounded more sophisticated."

"No kidding." She said with a small laugh. "But I don't think it could be classified as either. Anyway did you want something?"

"Lunch?"

"It's a bit early isn't it?" she asked looking at her watch too discover that, yes it was.

"Fine then," he pretended to sulk, "half an hour?"

"Sure."

In fact it was only twenty minutes later that a very bored Lizzie entered Chris's office ready to leave for an early lunch. There was work that she could have been doing but it would take a while and she didn't want to start something and leave midway through for lunch. When she entered the room she saw Chris balancing precariously on his desk attempting to fiddle with a light that was flickering.

"Should you be doing that? Isn't it dangerous?

"Ha! Danger? I laugh in the face of danger; I walk on the wild side."

"Is that a film quote? Which one?"

"The Lion King," he mumbled under his breath.

"Wow, cool. You're supposed to turn the light off before you start fiddling around with the bulb. Otherwise, that's how people get electrocuted."

"Yeah I suppose so," he jumped off the desk with a thud. "Ready for lunch?"

"Yup, let me just grab my coat."

They made their way across to a small Chinese restaurant called Chopstix- deliberately spelt that way where Chris swore that their hot Singapore noodles were some of the best he had ever tasted- just like the ones that he had eaten from carts of the streets in china. This got them back on the subject of travelling but before that he had some news.

"I've found a job! It's similar to what I'm doing now but with a different company."

"Uh huh," she took a bite of the noodles that he had insisted that she order and instantly regretted it as her eyes began to water and she felt as if her mouth was on fire.

"See I have a plan. I'm going to go for this job and see how I feel about it, whether it's the work that I'm doing or the company. Then, by September I should have discovered my feelings just in time for you and I to go travelling."

"Wait, what?"

"Was I talking too fast for you?" he spoke slowly as though she was dense. "And I thought that you were intelligent."

"No and yes I am actually, but the thing about the travelling?"

"Oh yes I've decided you and I are going travelling in September. I thought that we would possibly skip Europe but head over to China, Japan, Asia that sort of area. I don't know how you would feel about Russia? Then we can do a little bit of island hopping head over to the Australia area. Are you a dare devil? There's loads of places that we can do scary stuff there and final we'll jump across to the states."

"Do I get any say in this?" Lizzie couldn't believe what she was hearing.

"Nope I've got it all planned out."

"It doesn't really work like that!"

"Really?" he reached into his jacket and pulled out an envelope out of his inner pocket, "because these tickets would beg to differ," he help up what looked like two plane tickets.

"What?" she reached forward to touch them, "they don't normally give these to you until you're at the airport. When did you get these?" she was irritated that he had just decided but was sort of excited that he had been spontaneous enough to just do something about it. She wondered if she would be able to have the guts to do that.

"They're totally refundable, I got full holiday insurance.

"I can't believe you."

"Believe me. We can work out the fine print later but what do you think?"

"I think you're completely insane." She stared at him in amazement and for a moment he was hurt but then she laughed, "And I love you for it."

"So it's a plan?"

"Yeah it's a plan." She couldn't believe that she had just said yes but was now looking forward to it, "I know its ages away but I can't wait to start planning," he smiled at the way that her eyes lit up when she said that.

"It's a good thing women are naturally organised."

"Women are naturally organised? I'm not the one who's planned out the whole route already."

"Yeah, I'm sorry about that. We can change it if you want."

"No that's ok." It sounded like a reasonable plan.

"So I'm curious," he leant back in his chair, "now that you've agreed to go with me and I can relax I'm wondering why would you not want to travel alone?" it had been a question that had been bothering him lately as she had made it clear recently that she was a very independent and the majority of his friends who had gone travelling had gone alone.

"Oh," she hadn't thought that he would ask her that, "this sounds pathetic, ok but I'm just not very good at talking to strangers. Go on laugh at me." From the hard look in her eyes he could see that it was a challenge which made him doubt her. "I mean I'm ok with it but I don't know," she paused trying to think why she had never gone alone even when she felt that she was completely independent and confident. "Maybe it's just that I want someone there to hold the camera."

"Really?" he sounded like he knew that what she was saying wasn't likely.

"No, maybe not. Why is it that men can naturally walk into a room and talk to anyone yet woman hover and only really make conversation with people like them? Major stereotyping there but that's the way it works. No truthfully, ideally I would want to go with someone who I could spend time with but wouldn't have to spend all my time with. It would be nice to have someone else to talk to, share experience, help with the language, not get as homesick and ultimately be safer with. I mean my mother may be overprotective but you do hear awful horror stories. Anyway the more time I spend with just myself the more I start to talk to myself and that's a really bad road to go down."

"So I'm saving you from insanity?"

"Yeah." She decided to be honest with him, "Well, in my first year of uni, I went to this party, right?"

He nodded.

"And it was the first big party of the year and I did all the things that I was supposed to do. I didn't let anyone get me a drink without me watching, I always had my own drink with me, I had even had a glass of milk before I went to line my stomach."

Chris was worried where this was going.

"And I needed some fresh air, so I went out into the corridor and this guy starts talking to me. And I walked away- he was creepy- but then he grabbed my arm and pushed me against a wall covering my mouth with my hand."

Chris reached his arm out and rubbed her hand.

"I was ok," she shrugged, "it barely lasted a second- someone came out of the room but, I was just so scared." Her voice wavered slightly.

"And it was pathetic, nothing had really happened, it was right outside the door but I don't know, maybe it was the fear of what could have happened, what can happen at any moment. It was stupid, really I could spend all day on my own, go shopping or to the cinema by myself; things that my roommates would never do alone but I hated being out in the dark."

"That's not stupid Lizzie." He was watching her carefully.

"It is but I got over it. There was some magazine article a week or so later about this woman. You know the sort of people who have climbed Mount Everest, can speak seventeen languages, makes their own clothes? Really inspirational but the thing about it was she had been raped and just got over it and made this amazing successful life. She wasn't a victim. It was then I realised that nothing had even happened to me and I was letting it change me."

"Good for you. Lots of people wouldn't have done."

She snorted and he realised that she hadn't really told anyone about this because she was ashamed. She was probably this tough, independent, intelligent girl from a small town who had been freaked out by what she saw as a minor encounter and had been embarrassed that it had affected her, even though it was only for a week.

They finished off their meal, he explained a few more details about the job and said that he would download the application when they got back to the office. Despite the fact that they were talking normally she was concerned that with every glance he threw her way he was looking at her differently. This was why she didn't like letting herself be vulnerable to people; she was used to being seen as strong. It was something she had learnt from her childhood.

Back in his office Chris had had no trouble finding the right forms and checked that he did have the right qualifications before printing it out. Lizzie was sitting on the edge of his desk reading over his shoulder at the various requirements for the form.

"So you can't have anyone related to you, or who you've lived with or worked with?" This was what was needed for the character reference.

"It looks like that."

"Those are really tough specifications. Who are you going to ask?"

"I don't know really, I don't think that particular bit matters much. They only give you about five lines to write and anyone from your neighbour to the brother of the man who sold you your first car could write it from the looks of these guide lines."

"Well it's not like anyone could do that much damage with five lines. I remember Jane had one that had to be like a page and I ended up writing in massive handwriting so I didn't end up repeating myself too much. Everyone always says the same things in these anyway. After all why would you ask anyone who was going to say something bad?"

"I think I'll probably ask Darcy." Chris decided impulsively, "He's in New York with Charlie, but it can be done over email so it's not like that matters." He had only just found out from an email from Clare that everyone had gone to New York including her and Hurst- she fancied a change, Darcy- Georgy was going to be there, Caroline- because Darcy was going and Charlie. Chris couldn't really understand why Charlie had gone. It wasn't as though the company needed him that much over there.

"Darcy? Really?" she hadn't thought about who Chris would ask but Darcy was a surprise.

"Yeah," he shrugged his shoulders, "Why not? I've known the guy fairly well for a while now and he'd take it seriously. Besides the name sort of stands on its own, you know? People see the name Fitzwilliam Darcy and know who he is which makes me look better."

"mmhmm," she nodded at this suggestion.

"Anyway he's bound to mention it to Charlie and that way I don't have to tell him myself."

"Coward!" she said with a laugh.

"Oh well." He shrugged his shoulders smiling at her and began to type the email to Darcy....

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**Thank you so much to everyone who's reviewed! I love reading them.**

**I'd also like to thank Basically- I couldn't reply to you but I have tried to incorporate your suggestion in this chapter, it really helped with the character.**

**Also I know that the character reference thing seems unrealistic but is based on a real form. **

**I'm going to Barcelona soon so I'm not sure when the next chapter will be up probably quite a while- I know I keep making excuses but, sorry again**


	10. Bennets escaping for better or?

**Bennets Escaping - for better or...? **

Lizzie was tired, her shoulders and back were aching. When she got into her flat there was another message on her answer phone.

"Lizzie, its Jane. Can you call me at home when you get in? I've got some news."

Wondering what it could be and what had made Jane so excited, could it be linked to Charlie? Lizzie picked up the phone and began to dial.

"Hello?"

She knew immediately that it was Jane, not from the tone of voice but the way that she was answering- different to how their Mum always answered.

"Jane. It's me,"

"Oh Lizzie, I'm so glad to hear from you. You'll never guess what happened?" she sounded happy for the first time since the break up.

At that moment she was really hoping that Jane would then say that Charlie had come to his senses and had begged her to take him back. She didn't say this however, as if it wasn't the right guess then it would just remind Jane of all the things she didn't want to be reminded of.

"No, what?"

"Andrea's asked me to go to New York with her, she's offered me a place in her company and everything" she said breathlessly and hurriedly and Lizzie felt a slight twinge of jealousy.

"Wow, New York." her voice seemed slightly flat.

"Yeah I know. It's so far away. And the brilliant thing is she said that it wouldn't necessarily have to be a permanent thing. They've been doing these trials where they bring in another person from a different company or culture- you know like a fresh perspective on some of the adverts and layouts."

Lizzie nodded and then realised that Jane couldn't see that so made the appropriate umming noises.

"So it could only be about six months, which means that I could rent out the flat but I could also stay longer if I wanted to. And Andrea's offered me a place to stay in there apartment and I can always look for some temporary places whilst I'm there."

"Well there's nothing like a bit of good old fashioned nepotism." She wondered if that comment had seemed bitchy even though she had meant to make a joke.

It wasn't just the jealously that Lizzie was feeling but the realisation that her sister could be going off to another country for half a year. There was just one small point that Jane hadn't mentioned...

"What about Charlie? Chris told me that he went to New York."

"I know, but New York's a massive place. It's not like I'll run into any of them."

"Oh, I was thinking of the opposite. You go there, look amazing as you always do and be seen by him with some guy. What about the one that is in the pictures she emailed us- wasn't he her assistant?"

"He's gay, Lizzie."

"So?"

The two continued to talk for awhile and made plans. Jane was going to accept the offer even if it was only for a week as a holiday. She and Andrea were going to drive up probably on Wednesday to pick up her things and fly back properly on Friday. Jane had a friend who was looking to move out of her flat after a roommate situation had turned sour and she was going to move into Jane's for a while whilst she looked for a place and looked after the flat.

It was with a strange anticipation that Lizzie was looking forward to Wednesday all through Tuesday. On the one hand she was looking forward to seeing her Aunt and wanted to know how Jane was doing but didn't want to have to say goodbye to Jane for possibly half a year.

Chris had sorted out his job application; Darcy had forwarded the form once he had completed the character reference so Chris had not been able to read it. He had not mentioned it to Charlie but he was working on it whilst Caroline was in the room and she had immediately informed her brother. He had then rung Chris up rather perplexed and asking a lot of questions but then Chris had turned on him....

"So you were going to just leave the company- the _family_ company without telling anyone? Nice Chris," he added more sarcastically than he had intended.

"Oh and you were just going to leave the country- your _birth _country without telling anyone? Nice Charlie?" Chris mimicked to Charlie's almost exact words.

"The _company _needed me over here Chris. I have a sense of obligation." Chris frowned, he knew that this wasn't particularly Charlie's attitude but more that of Caroline and Darcy, who had a very strong sense of family obligation.

"Bullshit, Charlie. You could have sent almost anyone over there. There's obviously another reason why you left."

"No Chris there isn't," here Charlie's voice got angry but Chris was still able to detect the sadness in his voice. "The company needed me, everyone fancied a change and so here we went."

"The company needed you? Because the company owns you now?"

"Sometimes you have to do what you have to do."

"And sometimes you make a huge idiotic mistake and let the girl of your dreams go without realising it."

"I don't have a clue what you're talking about," Charlie's voice was detached, "Jane and I split amicably and for numerous reasons."

"Jane, did I mention Jane?" Chris asked coyly.

"Look Chris, I'm going to have to go." Charlie sounded tired, "I've had a lot of work to do and with the time difference here, it's getting late." And with that he hung up.

Chris looked at his watch, did a quick mental calculation, checked on the internet and realised that it wasn't that late in New York, well not late enough for Charlie of all people to be complaining about the hour unless he had suddenly turned into an eighty year old woman.

Currently at the moment, Chris was surrounded by a sea of misery. Although she hadn't gone into details with him- it would have been too awkward with Charlie as his brother- he knew that Lizzie was worried about her sister and would miss her. She also seemed to have had an argument with a friend or at least that was what he presumed after some very surreal conversation in which she had ranted and raved about arranged marriages and the lack of love in the world. Also about how everything was different in the olden days- she apparently wished that she was born in the eighteenth century where real men and real romance existed.

Chris had decided that it would be unhelpful to point out that it was quite likely that she would have died by now, if she lived then and that as a woman she would have no say in what she did with her life and would be effectively "owned" by her husband, who she probably wouldn't have loved as she would have had to marry him due to pressure from society and the need for security.

Charlie also seemed miserable as well from the little that the two brothers were communicating. Chris had rung Darcy to say thank you for the reference but even he, who according to Charlie had wanted to go to New York seemed even more irritable than he usually was...

"Fitzwilliam Darcy's office. Who may I say is speaking?" a somewhat nervous assistant who was new to the job and had been unprepared for the fearful Mr Darcy. She had been told that he was usually nicer than this.

"Chris Bingley.

"Of course Mr Bingley I'll patch you right through."

There was a beeping sound and then another clicking sound as Darcy picked up the phone.

"Charlie, I don't really have much time right now. I've got a really busy schedule; these hospitals just don't seem to be backing down on their prices."

"Um, Darcy this is Chris. I guess your secretary heard the name Bingley and thought that it was Charlie."

"Yes, well she is new and not up to my usual standards." He spoke curtly.

"I'm sure she's just in an adjustment stage. Anyway I was just calling you to say thanks."

"Thanks?"

"For the reference."

"Oh, so you got an interview then?" Darcy was frowning at the phone.

"Not yet but I have the right qualifications so fingers crossed. So how have you been?"

"Fine." Darcy was a little unsure as to why Chris was ringing, he could have just emailed his thanks.

"How's Charlie? Does he seem a little bit off to you- I mean what with Jane Bennet."

"Oh I think he's fine about that. He's been fairly cheerful, but very busy; you probably caught him at a wrong time." Darcy hoped that this was true and that he wasn't pining for certain blondes.

"Yeah I guess. And how have you been? Gigi arrives pretty soon doesn't she?

"Yeah, she comes tomorrow."

"Well that it'll be good for both of you. How's she been doing?"

"She's seems to be fine." There were talking about his sister, his only close living relative and yet Chris could still detect the slight hint of annoyance in Darcy's voice.

"Yes, her emails seem to be fine- nothing to cause major alarm." He knew that he was being unfair in deliberately pointing her out that he was in close contact with her but he had been a major part in helping Gigi recover from Wickham. He knew her well enough to know that she didn't even _like _being called Georgy anymore; she felt it was childish. He was also worried that although she was doing ok, she seemed lonely.

"That's what I thought. You would tell me though if you heard anything though?"

"Of course," he knew that Darcy was very busy and therefore stressed but was insulted that he had to ask.

"I haven't heard from her that recently though, what has she been doing? And yourself?"

Darcy was surprised that Chris was in such a chatty mood and talked briefly about Georgy but didn't really mention his own plans other than he and his cousin were going to visit his Aunt at Easter when he realised that Chris wasn't really listening and that there seemed to be a lot of background noise.

"Sorry Darce, Lizzie and her Aunt just got here."

"Lizzie _Bennet _and her Aunt?"

"Oh yeah, can you wait a second," there was a pause and Darcy could here Chris talking but couldn't work out the words. "Sorry about that. Yeah, her Aunt's over here from New York. Jane's going back with her to work for the company there- big promotion apparently."

Darcy raised his eyebrows at that statement, it was odd that her Aunt had offered this promotion now, just when Jane needed to get to New York to sink her claws into Charlie again. Well, that wasn't going to happen, he could easily keep them separated, New York was certainly big enough.

"Anyway Lizzie and I are going travelling later in the year and we may be staying with them in New York, so she thought that I should meet her."

"Oh."

So he was meeting her family now? Darcy couldn't believe that they had progressed that fast. They were making plans for the future? There was a slight twinge of annoyance, but then he realised that they were obviously meant to be and that it would all work out for the best. Anyway, he laughed bitterly to himself there was nothing remotely special or attractive about her. Except, perhaps her eyes- that always seemed to be sparkling, but who even cared about eyes? Sure, some people claimed that they were the windows into the soul, and if the was the case then she had a very compelling soul but c'mon Will, he blinked, it's not like you believe in any of that.

"So I'll talk to you later then Darce. Send my love to Gigi and tell her to email me."

"Will do." And with that he hung up cursing the day that Chris had fallen through that window at Netherfield.

Chris hadn't heard anything from either of his sisters but knew that Caroline had been in touch with Jane which was something else that Lizzie had been ranting about, the email that Jane had received which she had then sent a copy to Lizzie, after she had mentioned it in her phone call when she and Andrea arrived in New York and Lizzie had demanded to see it.

_Jane Darling,_

_So sorry that I couldn't get back to you in time, just been so busy what with the moving and everything. Clearly we are not going to be able to do lunch- again soz! I'm not really sure that I'm going to be able to email, I'm so busy here now. It's probably best that you don't reply then you won't be hanging around waiting for a response. It's just with all the fashion that's here, you know what New York's like- or have you not been here? _(Lizzie fumed at this deliberate snub)

_Anyway, must get going Georgiana Darcy's coming by later for lunch with Charlie. She's Fitzwilliam's sister and is such an angel. I'm just so thrilled that she and Charlie have been reunited again- now there relationship can get started properly without interruptions!_

_Love_

_C_

When Jane had forwarded a copy to Lizzie she had left it open on her desk after she spilt coffee down her top and Chris who was expected Lizzie to forward him a different email had stopped by to check it out. When he saw that it was from his sister he couldn't help but read it and by the time he had finished was fuming. Lizzie was not angry with him when he explained himself and started ranting against his sister. The rules of friendship forbad her from criticizing them but she got a little thrill when he did.

"I'm sorry about my sister, Lizzie. I would like to claim that she means well but I'm not even sure that's true. Maybe I'm adopted. But look," he scanned the email again, "this is not true at all. Gigi doesn't have any sort of relationship with Charlie- other than a platonic brotherly one. Apologise to Jane for me."

She nodded and he went back to his desk, generally annoyed with the world.

Lizzie, by Friday was also annoyed with the world. Jane and Andrea had come and gone and she had felt slightly lost. However Andrea had pulled her aside, whilst Jane was packing to give her an offer that she couldn't refuse.

"So how's my other favourite niece?"

"I'm fine."

"Really?" she looked at Lizzie over her stylish, square glasses frame.

"Yeah."

"Hmm not really, I think. You're annoyed with your best friend because she doesn't have your beliefs, you're annoyed at your sister because you feel that she is getting this amazing opportunity and you feel resentful yet she's just been dumped and is so damn nice that you can't feel resentful, also because she's going away and you'll miss her and you're just a little bit angry with the world in general and in my opinion you have every reason to be so."

"That's not all my book deals not going to happen and I have a very annoying Aunt who seems to know everything." She gave her a small smile and pulled a cushion across her chest hugging it into her stomach.

"Your book deals not going to happen?"

"It's really not looking likely." She was tired and as her Aunt put a comforting arm around her, her lip started to wobble and she felt as if she was going to cry.

"Well then you'll be free this summer."

"umm maybe?" Why would her Aunt care about that? She would rather have a book deal than a free summer.

"Now I know that you and Chris will be spending some time with me later in the year- didn't he say before Christmas? But I was thinking that I never get to see my nieces and if I'm going to be spending all this time with one of them, then I should spend time with the other. James and I are thinking of coming to England in the summer to visit everyone. We both left suddenly and never got to say goodbye to everyone. We'd love it if you could join us and Chris could if you wanted."

"Chris? You know we're not actually dating?"

"I know, but he's so charming and wonderful. Maybe something could happen there?" She gave Lizzie a suggestive smile.

"I doubt it."

"Right, well don't bring Chris, that way I'll get to spend more time with you. I was thinking that we might do a couple of chateau's in France but spend some time over here. I'm beginning to realise that I really miss the history of the place, I love America but I also want to be somewhere where I can talk about neaps and tatties and toad in the hole without someone thinking that I'm insane."

"Well even if you're in England people will still think you're insane. Neaps and tatties is a Scottish phrase that most people don't know."

"Fine, then. Anyway, don't be too jealous of Jane, remember she had had her heart broken."

Lizzie made to interrupt, "I'm not jealous."

"You are," she said simply, "Not majorly of course but you were the one who always wanted to go to New York and now Jane is. It's perfectly natural to miss her especially when everything else seems to be so shit but you should just sit here and spend your time with that gorgeous Chris and remember that you'll get to go to New York and as a tourist, so that'll be better than working."

"Ok," she smiled at her Aunt. "You will make sure that's she's ok, won't you? I mean if there's even the slightest reason that you feel that you should call, do it."

"Yes, Lizzie, of course." There was a brief moment when the two woman looked at each other in perfect understanding.

"And about Charlotte. I know Collins is ridiculous but if he makes her happy, then that should be enough."

"But he doesn't make her happy!" she was aware that she sounded like she was whining.

"Lizzie," her Aunt gave her a patient look, "you don't know that he doesn't make her happy. Ultimately, it's her decision and you can either walk away from her because of that or stick by her, not supporting it, but being there for her. Now , I know you well enough to know that you're not the type of person who would just walk away from a friend."

"But he's so ridiculous!"

"So avoid him. Make plans with her. You can always claim that you don't want to go out to dinner with both of them either because you're not dating anyone," she paused, frowning, "and if they think that you're dating Chris just claim that he can't make it. It'll be hard but doable."

"I guess." She moped. "If they'll be getting married she'll probably move to Ireland. He works in a hotel near Belfast, He'd never give up his job for her. Goes on about it all the time."

"Well then. And cheer up-it's never as bad as you think! Remember Monty Python."

This was an old bit between the two of them from years ago, neither were a huge fan of Monty Python but when her Uncle James had first suggested that she always remembered that, she had asked if it was "always look on the bright side of life?" Then her Aunt had said no, it was "always look out for the Spanish Inquisition."

Her Uncle had looked at the two with a very confused look (he had meant always look on the bright side) whilst they both turned to him and said "sliding doors!" the chick flick film with John Hannah and Gwyneth Paltrow as if it were the most obvious answer in the world.

From then on they had always quoted that particular film preferring it to the film that her Uncle claimed was a classic and was his favourite. Andrea always groaned whenever anyone mentioned any Monty Python films but in particular, Life of Brian as she had sat through it far too many times.

Lizzie was thinking of this as she sat on the plane ready to fly to Belfast to visit Charlotte and Nigel Collins . They had got married in March, right at the end, Charlotte had wanted to get married on April Fool's day but Collins had decided that wouldn't be appropriate. He had also stuck fiercely to tradition so Charlotte ended up getting married in her home town in a small private service.

It had been a strange few months since Jane was gone. She seemed cheerful the few times that she had phoned but Lizzie wasn't totally convinced. She spent far longer than was probably necessary scouring her emails for any sign of.... ,well she wasn't sure what she was looking for but just in case.

There had been one email that had raised a few alarms in her mind and Lizzie had rung her to sort it out, this was when Jane confessed to having called Caroline Bingley to meet up for lunch.

"_And you know Lizzie; I think that you were right. She was so distant and cold towards me, it was such a change and she dashed off abruptly."_

Lizzie sighed as she read further.

"_she kept mentioning Charlie and Darcy's sister. I know Chris said that wasn't true but don't you think that Caroline would know better. She is the one over here with him."_

Typing a reassuring response; Lizzie also emailed Andrea to see if there was anything that she could do, such as setting Jane up with someone. After that email Jane hadn't written anymore about the Bingley's but didn't appear to be cheering up.

One Bingley who also did not appear to be cheering up, was the usually chipper Chris. He hadn't got the job that he applied for- hadn't even been given an interview, which Lizzie thought was strange as he had practically all the qualifications and seemed perfect for it.

The girl who Lizzie was covering had returned after recovering from her broken leg but Chris had found her another temp job in a different department and had remained as Chris's assistant. It had been strange working a regular nine to five job and if she hadn't had Chris she wasn't sure what she would have done these past few months.

Jane and Charlotte had gone- admittedly Charlotte had left about a month later- immediately after her wedding but she had been so busy planning her wedding, flying back and forward to Ireland or spending time with_ Collin. _Lizzie had been spending her time writing, she was finally actually getting somewhere with her new novel. She had decided that this was because all the best work seemed to have been created when artists were miserable or bored. She was also spending a lot of time planning her trip with Chris and in her apartment had never looked cleaner or more organised.

She had taken 2 weeks off work, and she finally decided to visit Charlotte. This was a sign between the two girls that Lizzie had forgiven Charlotte and was accepting her decision. She _was ok _with it, she was telling herself as the plane dropped down onto the tarmac but that didn't mean that she was slightly apprehensive about spending time with Collins and the formidable Lady Catherine de Bourg.

**So 16 hours (ish) until Barcelona! I know that some of this may be slightly fast moving- I'm sorry but those months are just so boring and I want to get to Hunsford.**

**I also wanted to upload before I went but I won't be able to reply to any questions in reviews for a while. **

**Please Review- I would love to know any ideas or anything**


	11. Meeting Miss Havisham

**Dedicated to everyone who is reading and reviewing. **

**Don't own apart from Chris so no one can marry him. **

Lizzie hated airports. They were her exact idea of what hell looked like. It wasn't that she didn't like flying- she wasn't a massive fan, (who is?) but she hated all the people, the queues, the recycled air and the generally stressed atmosphere. Her luggage had come through early, she was lucky that she was flying to Belfast City and not Belfast International. Why was it, she thought as she looked down at her case, that when she felt she was being intelligent by putting Duct tape on her boring-just-like everybody-else's black case that everybody else had done the same?

She was gazing around the small airport wondering where Charlotte was when she heard her name being called and instinctively turned around.

Charlotte looked, well amazing. She looked like she was born to be in a NEXT advert. And that was the problem; she no longer looked like Charlotte.

She had lost weight- it was all that she had gone on about before the wedding setting herself ridiculous goals. Her messy hair which was normally scooped up with any old elastic band had been highlighted and cut into a bob. Her clothes seemed to Lizzie to be the very definition or suburban preppiness and she was wearing a string of pearls. This was something that she had always claimed she wouldn't wear day to day until she was at least 50.

Helping Lizzie with her suitcase the two woman made their way over to the car park where Lizzie was rather surprised to find that Charlotte was unlocking a top of the range 4 x 4 despite the fact that she and Collins lived in the city and there were only two of them.

To Lizzie who had always banged on about gas guzzlers and having principals this was a sign of how far Charlotte had sunk. They climbed into the car and Charlotte immediately started prattling on about the wedding, the honeymoon and her new home.

"Yes anyway, it's really sweat. There's a great restaurant around the corner but it's still really quiet. And it's so close to the hotel and the offices which is perfect for a Nigel. I'm currently doing up the dining room- you'll have to help me pick a wallpaper. I've narrowed it down slightly but for the life of me I can't decide."

Lizzie stared at Charlotte in amazement, just who did she think sounded like? Spending her day worrying about wallpaper? Still it was a testament to her of how much she had achieved since Lizzie had last spent quality time with her.

During those two and a half months since the Bingley ball, Charlotte had planned and carried through a wedding. This in itself was astonishing as Charlotte was not the best decision maker and it took many people over a year. She had also achieved a brand new look, gone on a honeymoon, bought a house and was currently refurbishing. And, she had technically moved country- admittedly Northern Ireland was part of the UK but it wasn't Britain.

And Lizzie? Well _what_ had Lizzie done? Let's see, she frowned working through the maths in her head. Jane had left on the 13th- was that right? Yes. And since then what had she done? Nothing. Oh yes, she had been to a wedding. She and Chris had driven down to the little Surrey Village where Charlotte was getting married. That had certainly been interesting.

Her invitation had said plus one and originally she had thought that she wasn't going to bring anyone but then she remembered that people in love always felt that everybody else should be in love and weddings were a hotspot for set ups. Not wanting to risk it, knowing the type of friends and relatives Collins had who were bound to be single she had begged Chris to go with her. And he, tempted by an open bar, a nice meal and not much happening that weekend, had accepted.

It had been bearable but certainly not enjoyable. It was a small wedding and as Charlotte had a large family, not many of their mutual friends had been invited. It had also been short notice and so not that many were able to go.

Collins had invited her parents, it didn't appear as though he had many guests and they had lived on the same street for many years but her Father had done his back in mowing the lawn and her Mum hadn't really wanted to drive all that way and so had sent their apologies.

Right, so that was one thing that Lizzie could say that she had done, but what else? She couldn't even remember the last time she had her hair cut, or been to the cinema or been on a date- other than platonic evenings with Chris.

Ok, she decided firmly, after she got back from Hunsford she was going to go out more- put herself out there so to speak. She couldn't really criticize Jane for not moving on from Charlie when she wasn't dating anyone. For heaven's sake there were girls her age who were receiving marriage proposals.

The drive was taking longer than Lizzie had expected even with the traffic when Charlotte explained that the house was more on the outskirts.

"That way, you see the hotel can be even grander and special. You can still get Belfast but without having to deal with the noises and the chaos that comes with a city." Lizzie frowned, she sounded just like a brochure. "It's really a very short ride into Belfast, only about 45 minutes to an hour."

And looking at the types of road that they were going down, first a motorway but then more of a country type lanes- it would have to be a car ride. Great, thought Lizzie, all her hopes of being able to escape into the city on her own had disappeared.

"So are you working for the Hotel's PR firm now, then?" with the hotel being so far out and from the sounds of it very exclusive the hotel would probably require lots of advertising.

"oh no," now Charlotte was blushing. "I've just been so busy with the house and everything- that I haven't been able to think of a job. I have to make the house look acceptable first, you know."

"And then?" Lizzie wasn't so sure she wanted to hear the next answer.

"That will take quite awhile Lizzie."

"Yes but....."she trailed off.

"Then I may look for a job or I may not. I am rather enjoying not working at the moment. The leisure time is so wonderful. Anyway, Nigel is so busy that it wouldn't be right if we were both working exhausting hours."

Oh so, that's how it was, Lizzie thought cynically, Collins comes in and expects little wifey to have dinner on the table.

"I may look at some part time stuff but we are just settling in and that will take time." Her tone became slightly more clipped. "We may be starting a family soon."

"Oh," Lizzie didn't know what to say to that, except for the fact that if Charlotte was able to have her house ready for guests so soon after her honeymoon then this did not sound like someone who was _slowly _settling in. She sounded like someone who was rushing around, desperate to fill her time. It was quite a vicious thought but Lizzie, who had always felt that she was a feminist, (she had loved Germaine Greer as a teenager), that within ten years Charlotte's brain would have turned to mush.

She supposed it was having a mother who worked- like the majority of her friend's mothers had been whilst growing up- as well as the fact that she was ambitious but the idea of giving up her job for her children seemed ridiculous right now. Her mother had chosen to work and plenty of woman managed to do both- she was sure that she could do the same.

"I mean," Charlotte was rambling, "So many people put it off; they think they have all the time in the world and then they discover that they can't. By then it's often too late to adopt with the laws being so strict. Why would you want to wait?"

In Lizzie's opinion Charlotte sounded petrified.

They pulled up at a small semi-detached house at a row of 8 houses in the middle of nowhere. Looking to her right, Lizzie could see an impressive looking gate and further beyond that an elegant 18th century house that could very well be the Rosings Hotel that she had heard so much about,

Charlotte helped her carry her bags up the stairs allowing her to pause and look around. It was small but it was clear that Charlotte had pushed for her tastes as it was well decorated in light colours that complemented each other apart from the living room which she assumed Charlotte was going to change until she mentioned how lucky she was that the hotel had over ordered.

The two woman had grown apart, Lizzie thought sadly as she looked around the gold, flowery living room. She had heard of this happening, one woman got married and had children whilst her old friends were left behind. She had experienced similar situations when friends had new boyfriends. They wanted to spend all their time with them but the phenomena soon wore off and a balance was returned. Somehow she didn't see that the same thing would happen here.

There was the sound of keys jangling in the lock and suddenly

"Darling, I'm home."

It was Collins. Lizzie wondered if he always spoke in such 50's sitcom clichés. "I have wonderful news." He entered the room and kissed Charlotte on the cheek. "Lady Catherine has invited us for dinner."

He said this with such enthusiasm that Lizzie half expected him to jump up and down and squeal with excitement.

"Oh that is amazing." Lizzie noticed that Charlotte didn't mention the fact that she had already defrosted steaks for dinner.

"We shall have to get ready right away. Does she want us at seven?"

Collins nodded and Lizzie realised that they often dined with this Lady Catherine de Bourg.

"Ah Lizzie," Collins turned to her and eyed her with a strange look, almost as if he was barely tolerating the fact that she was there but had decided to allow it and was attempting to be friendly in a mocking way. "I presume that you will be showering before dinner?"

Lizzie nodded, wanting to think of some brilliant snappy retort but didn't have the energy.

There was something about a shower, Lizzie decided, as the water cascaded down her cleaning away all the grime both real and imaginary. She stepped out; towel unwrapped and started to dig through her clothes. She always over packed- she suspected that most people did but she still wasn't able to find anything to wear.

Finally after picking out a deep pink silk dress to wear and her black high heels that strapped around the ankle and had been a last minute throw in she threw a look at the mirror and was pleased with how she looked. She threw a wrap over her shoulders and tied her hair up into a messy bun. She looked respectable but not like she was about to join a nunnery.

However when she walked downstairs Collins looked her up and down in such a way that the bitchiest girl from her high school would have been jealous.

"I suppose that'll have to do. Lady Catherine hates it when anybody is late." Charlotte she noticed, to her dismay, looked like she had joined a nunnery.

Lizzie felt very self conscious as they were approaching the hotel; simultaneously tugging on her hemline and her neckline. She hated how Collins and all his talk of Lady Catherine made her doubt herself. Then she realised, looking around her, that she shouldn't; any woman who could allow such awful and tacky decor into her hotel was not a woman from whom Lizzie wanted advice on fashion.

Collins in a false, almost stage whisper was commenting on the price of everything, some of which Lizzie could barely believe. He led them to a private dining area away from the restaurant which looked almost empty, nearer to Lady Catherine's private quarters.

"Ah Mr and Mrs Collins," an elderly woman wearing enormous diamond earrings that blinded Lizzie as they caught the light called from across the room.

During university, Lizzie had a friend called Ruth whose tuition was being paid for by an elderly childless maiden but filthy rich aunt. When the English class had studied Dickens, Ruth had sworn that her Aunt was an absolute ringer for the manipulative spinster in Great Expectations, Miss Havisham. Ever since then Lizzie, who had been kept amused through many a dull lecture by Ruth's stories of her aunt, had wanted to meet a similar character. Well, it looked like she had.

"And this must be Elizabeth." It wasn't a question.

The woman would fit the description exactly of looking like a cross between a skeleton and a waxwork with moving eyes that seemed to be watching everything all the time, well if Dickens had known about Botox.

"Yes. That's me." Lizzie stepped forward ready to shake her hand or perhaps (and she hoped not) hug and kiss her on her cheeks.

Instead Lady Catherine gave her such a look that Lizzie suddenly knew where Collins had learnt it from except that this also had the added bonus of being extremely calculated that made her wonder what her plans for her were.

"Hmm," her mouth was pulled taunt, her lips pursed and Lizzie wondered if she had been sucking lemons.

It was obvious that Lizzie would not be required to make small talk, Lady Catherine had turned her back on her and was talking to but more really at Charlotte. What Lizzie didn't know was that Lady Catherine was subtly quizzing Charlotte about Elizabeth. This gave her ample opportunity to look around the room. It was filled with various trinkets, flowers, photos and various other bits and pieces. Wondering over to a display cabinet, Lizzie looked at a hideous, chunky gold pot that was shaped into a palm tree with a large crystal butterfly on one side. Wondering why on earth anyone would have such an item let alone display it, Lizzie took a step to her right where she noticed a label was hanging off. Looking to see if it was new- the label certainly didn't seem so, Lizzie carefully picked it up.

_Catherine_

_Remember me always_

_-Sultan of Brunei_

It wasn't dated and Lizzie knew nothing about that area of the world but she supposed that she would have to believe that it was genuine.

"Elizabeth, could you please be careful!" Lizzie jumped. "That is worth quite a lot."

Lizzie thought that secretly Lady Catherine was quite excited that someone was paying attention to her things. Sure she had Collins but she suspected that Lady Catherine was actually quite intelligent so even she must get bored with his constant flattery. Then again looking back at the woman who was 'advising' Charlotte on the best curtain material, maybe not, as she would always be able to control him and she clearly liked that.

Next to this pot was a newspaper article cut out ready to be framed or stuck in a scrapbook. The picture was a little unclear and Lizzie wasn't sure that it was worth incurring the worth of Lady Catherine by picking it up to look closer, so peered at it, wondering why one of the men (it showed about 6 business men) looked so familiar when the back door behind the head of the table where Lady Catherine was sitting opened.

"Well we found the wine." It was a young male voice.

"Richard is there any reason to bellow? It certainly took the two of you long enough. I don't even see why the both of you needed to go."

A young man who was relatively attractive with light brown hair had walked into the room wearing a pair of jeans and a grey blue t-shirt that claimed "Yossarian Lives".

Recognising the name of the protagonist from Catch 22, Lizzie realised that maybe this would make the evening more interesting.

Lady Catherine turned in her chair, "Richard! You didn't change for dinner."

"Technically, this isn't the same t-shirt I was wearing earlier," he said with a cheeky grin and walked over to another side table to grab himself a handful of nuts which earned him another glare.

Just then the back door opened to reveal the second half of the "two of you" that Lady Catherine had mentioned.

"Darcy?" Lizzie couldn't believe it.

"Elizabeth? What are you doing here?" He blinked wondering if the jet lag was making him hallucinate but then remembered that he hadn't been in New York for ten days.

That was just what she had been wondering.

"Lizzie Bennet, right?" the man named Richard interjected. "Charlotte mentioned yesterday that you were coming."

Will turned to him "You knew?"

At this moment there was this strange male communication thing with eye balls and brows that Lizzie knew that as a woman she would never understand.

"Sure," there was that cheeky grin again and he seemed to emphasise his t-shirt.

"I presume you know one of my nephews." Lady Catherine turned to Lizzie with possibly slightly more respect. She turned back to the two men who Lizzie had worked out where her nephews. "Well at least one of you changed for dinner."

And sure enough Will Darcy was dressed in a shirt, jacket and tie. Kiss arse, thought Lizzie.

"Suck up," whispered Richard.

Lizzie smiled a magical smile. Will groaned. She was here. The months he had spent not thinking about her and she was here. And so was Richard, who he had told about her. No wonder he was wearing that t-shirt. It was so typical that they would like the same book. Why had he even mentioned it to Richard? Why hadn't he listened to Charlotte when she was talking about her friend? It's because you don't care, isn't it Darcy? She is beneath you and not right for you and you don't care.

Lady Catherine had decided that before dinner they were going to have drink which had been the wine that the two were collecting as well as a variety of cocktails that were available.

"Where is Anne?" Collins asked looking over to the far corner where Anne who ever she was presumably sat.

"I'm afraid that Anne was not feeling well and is unable to join us this evening. Fitzwilliam you may want to go and visit her."

Darcy nodded. Lady Catherine then began to describe all that ailed Anne who Lizzie presumed was her daughter to Charlotte, Collins and Darcy and so Lizzie turned to Richard.

"Yossarian lives, huh?" Joseph Heller fan?"

"Sure. I always liked the book and my cousin was telling me all about some argument he got into with a certain attractive young woman who shall remain nameless about this particular book. Since I knew that a certain young woman would be here tonight and looking very beautiful," he added and Lizzie squirmed in her seat slightly. "I decided that this was the perfect opportunity."

Will had been listening into this conversation and looked at her full on for the first time to see her looking decidedly flushed.

Realising that this was not a particular topic of conversation whose road she wanted to go down, Lizzie asked Richard when they had arrived.

"About a week or so," he lowered his voice, "Except we've had to spend so long making sure this place didn't go into financial ruin, we haven't been able to get out and see any of the sight. And I haven't been able to test my new theory of how to get girls; I hear the love an English accent."

"Yes." She said with a laugh. "Maybe but I generally think that's in America or somewhere that's not used to it. Besides, "she said with a small mock sigh. "Why would any girl find an English accent attractive when the Irish is just so damn sexy." She smiled at him faux- longingly.

Will watched all this silently but he was already reciting his mantra under his breath of how he didn't care. When that didn't work and he caught himself gazing in the direction too often he started reciting Hamlet under his breath.

"It's funny that you mention that because actually," she noticed Richard's voice was changing, "my father is Irish and I spent most of my childhood here." By the end of his sentence he was speaking with a full blown Irish accent that was not exactly genuine.

Her drink was finished and Lizzie when she saw the glances that she was receiving from Lady Catherine and the way Darcy was always looking at her, she was grateful for the alcohol in it. The table had set up for the right amount of people but there weren't enough of the dining chairs so Darcy and Richard volunteered to go and get two more.

"Really this is appalling!" Lady Catherine squawked. "First we didn't have the right wine and now this. Honestly I told Therese the 87 Merlot and she brings me the 88. She can't even lay a table correctly which is something most 5 year olds can do. I'm going to have to let her go."

Will who thought his Aunt was extremely lucky to have Therese given the little amount that she was paid and the way that she was treated, said nothing but followed Richard to the public restaurant to get the chairs. He was glad that Therese had messed up even though it would probably mean that she would be fired it also gave him the opportunity to ask Richard why on earth he was wearing that t-shirt.

"I thought it'd be fun, cousin. Why do you not like it?" There was an innocent looking expression on his face that Will didn't trust for a minute."Lizzie seems to like it."

Will scowled. "Why on earth would you mention that?"

"Mention what?" Richard was still playing the fool.

"You know what."

"If you say so." He smiled happy in the knowledge that he successfully riled his cousin up. "She is very attractive, though."

"Richard." Will turned to face him full on. "She's dating Chris Bingley."

"Details, cousin, details."

Will sighed but knew the Elizabeth had too much integrity to become involved with his cousin whilst she was dating somebody else. Mores the pity. Will almost wished that he could convince her to date him then he could prove how much better he was than Chris.

They walked back into the room and placed the chairs around the table. Lady Catherine called Will over to her and when he turned back to look at Richard and Elizabeth despite his view being obstructed by a large lamp he could see that they were standing very close together and laughing. He felt very excluded.

"William, "his Aunt whispered softly near his ear. He noticed with a small amount of surprise that she called him William dropping the Fitz at the front. The way that she was getting him to lean into her and was glancing around the room at the other occupants suggested to him that she was in one of her scheming moods. It was always the same with her; he thought she had to have control of everything and everyone.

"Don't you think that Miss Bennet would make a good match for Richard." She glanced over to where the pair were still laughing. Will felt his chest sink a little and he felt rather disappointed but reassured himself that it was just because he hadn't eaten yet.

"I'm not sure that she's single, Aunt." He murmured. He didn't try to contradict the fact that the pair would be good together. They made sense. Lizzie was the sort of woman who would compliment and raise any man with whom she was with.

"Well we shall have to find out then," she said briskly reminding him for some reason of the way Richard had said, 'detail, cousin, details.'

"Do you really think that she is, uh, of the right, um, class for Richard?" This was after all the main reason why he, himself wasn't dating her.

"She is an author, Fitzwilliam published and award winning. I'm not talking about anything serious, obviously. When has Richard ever been in a long term relationship?"

Will was relieved a little bit; the reason he couldn't have a real relationship with her was there in the tone of his Aunt's voice. Lizzie was acceptable for a fling with Richard but could never be anything serious for him, Fitzwilliam Darcy.

"I blame his mother, you know. She breast feed him for far too long and refused, actually refused to get a nanny until he was three months old.

Will nodded, not really caring anymore.

"So you will find out then, at dinner? If she is single? I'll do what I can but I'm sure it will look less suspicious coming from you."

He nodded in agreement despite the fact that he thought Richard would think it was suspicious if he started asking all about Lizzie's love life. He wasn't exactly looking forward to finding all about the same person he had spent months trying to forget. He could only hope that she wasn't too emphatic when describing her love for Chris.

* * *

So a bit of a weird chapter. I'm trying to do something a little different with Lady Catherine's character instead of always disapproving, I'm trying to make her more scheming.

**Ixi-shaj**- I'm trying to not stick too closely to the plot as I know it's repetitive but it's difficult. It shouldn't be too close from now on and you gave me an idea for a new storyline that should be very different.

I know not a lot happened and sorry the fight will come soon... (Hopefully) A little preview to keep you going....

"Lizzie?"

"Chris? Where are you?" There was noise around him.

"In a bar. Drinking is good, I have decided especially after since what that bastard Darcy did to me."

"Wait, what?"

*****

"You make me some sort of monster!"

"A monster?"

"Yes, I can't bear it! I've never felt so, so jealous before... I mean I finally understand what Shakespeare was going on about Othello."

"Yes, because that turned out so well." She couldn't help but be sarcastic.


	12. Revelations and Accusations

Thank you so much to everyone who reviewed

"So Lizzie," Richard who was sitting next to her leaned in as they began the salad course. "Where do you live?"

Will who was sitting opposite him, frowned at him, he knew that Richard knew where she lived.

"London." She said slightly muffled as she swallowed a mouthful of lettuce. "What about you?"

"Here and there." Will wasn't sure but he was fairly convinced that Richard was deliberately trying to pull some suave nonchalant act. "I spend some time in New York but I also have a place in London. We should meet up some time."

To Will's surprise she nodded. Why? She had only met him today and was already forming semi casual plans to meet up with him? He was certain that if he had asked the same thing from her she would have shot him down.

"So...does your husband mind that you're over here for a week without him, on your own?"

Why had he asked that question? He could see her hands for goodness sake and they were ring free.

She laughed like she knew what he was trying to do. Will was glad that she could see through him.

"I'm not married."

"So your boyfriend?"

Lady Catherine raised her eyebrows over Charlotte's head as she was leaning to take a drink; it was clear to Will that she had asked the wrong nephew to probe Lizzie. He stabbed a tomato with his fork.

"Currently, I'm single."

What? Had he heard that right? He swallowed abruptly and started to choke.

"Are you ok there, cousin?" Richard looked at him with concern as his eyes began to water.

Lady Catherine looked up in concern and Collins eager to please started to vigorously thump him on the back.

He swallowed the tomato successfully and took a sip of water noticing that Lizzie was looking at him with concern. Flushing he vowed to himself that he would be more careful whilst eating.

"So, before my idiot cousin who obviously hasn't learnt how to eat yet, where were we? Oh yes," he pulled a sad face, "You're single. Personally I think that just proves how stupid the male race is."

She laughed again. "Well that has been a theory of mine for years, but aren't you a member of the male race? Or have I just made a terrible mistake and you're actually a very masculine looking woman?"

"Ah no you haven't made a mistake; I just hadn't met you yet and so can't be stupid because I still have the opportunity to snap you up."

"You're presuming I'm just waiting around to be snapped up? For all you know I could be perfectly happy being single." Will smiled at the way that she had put him in his place but also because of the fact that she reiterated that she was single.

"I'm not denying that you're happy but in my experience every woman is waiting to be snapped up even if she won't admit it."

"Hmm," she laughed but pretended to look thoughtful.

"It's strange though because my cousin here." At this point Will looked up knowing that he could no longer pretend that he wasn't listening in, "thought that you were somehow involved with Christopher Bingley?"

"Oh yes," Collins who had been listening into his wife's conversation with Lady Catherine on Anne again spoke up even though he was a distance away and hadn't been involved in the conversation in any way. "He came with you to our wedding. He seemed like a very nice young man but you've never been lucky in love, have you Elizabeth? Not like me and my Charlotte." He gave a simpering smile.

Richard popped his eyes as Will in disbelief. Lizzie ignored him but merely thought how pompous he sounded when he called Chris a very nice young man. It was the sort of thing that maybe her granddad might have said.

Lady Catherine cleared her throat and began to talk to Collins clearly distracting him whilst she made prompting movements with her eyes and a small gesture with her eyes towards Will.

"Yes, I was dating Chris Bingley. So you know him as well, then?"

"Yes and he's always been terrible at making decisions, total train wreck believe me. Just say the word and I'll sort him out."

She smiled, "Thanks but I'm good. It was mutual anyway."

He was unaware of the fact, but Will was leaning in as she spoke. Lady Catherine was aware of this, slightly but presumed that he was only doing this to find out the relevant information. She would sort it out anyway. Charlotte didn't seem to be that attached to her friend and so she could send Lizzie with Richard out for sightseeing. That way Fitzwilliam could also spend time with Anne and so everything would be sorted.

"You were looking for something better weren't you?" he nodded cockily. "Well baby, the search is over." He nodded his head in an arrogant manner. Will glared at him but Lizzie burst out laughing.

The meal continued in this happy fashion until they came to the dessert which was syllabub, one of Lizzie's favourite although by this time all the alcohol was going to her head and the Madeira in the pudding wasn't helping.

"So Elizabeth," Lady Catherine was calling down the table. "How old are you?"

"Twenty three." Unlike most women Lizzie didn't have a problem admitting her age although in about ten years her view would probably change.

"And you've already had one book published?"

"Yes." Lizzie had expected criticism from Catherine but the way that she was talking to her was no more than polite conversation. It was strange especially as Charlotte had made her seem so formidable.

"Have you been to Ireland before?"

"No." There was a slight pause and Lizzie who had always felt that Darcy didn't expand enough on his sentences so added, "It's a very beautiful country."

"Yes. I presume you know some of the history of the area?"

"We studied the troubles at A-level." Lizzie had taken A- level history where they had studied all the major conflicts of the twentieth century. It always struck her as strange that it was considered history when it had been so recent.

"Well I'm sure Richard would love to show you around the area. The great thing about this area is that we're relatively near Derry as well as Belfast. That way you can see the peace memorial and other sights."

"That would be nice." She said with a smile, glancing hopefully at Richard.

"Sure, thing, I'll be happy to take you around." Richard was relieved that he wouldn't have to spend all the time at the hotel.

"Perhaps I could join you?" Will really didn't like the idea, if she was actually single, of her walking all around Ireland with Richard who was not really known for being merely friends with woman. "With Anne of course." He added hastily as Catherine shot him a look.

"No, I don't think so. Anne has been very ill recently and I don't think that it would be right to leave her here." Lady Catherine wondered why her other nephew would want to tag along- did he not approve of the Bennet girl? Or was it the other way around and that he actually approved too much of the Bennet girl? No surely not. Especially as he offered to take Anne along. It must be that he wanted to get out a little bit away from Collins. She frowned knowing that she would have to do something about that.

They arranged to meet up the day after tomorrow much to Will's consternation. He would have to talk to Richard.

After their guests had left and Lady Catherine had gone to bed, he and Richard decided to have a game of pool that was in the game rooms that belonged to the guests.

"So," he was fumbling with the balls as he put them in the triangle. "Where are you planning on taking her?"

"I thought we'd hit Belfast first. We could do a bus tour and the dockyards. Isn't there that hotel that is the most bombed hotel in the world?"

"Yeah I think there is. I can't remember what it's called but it's the tall square one. I'm not sure is the most bombed in the world but maybe the UK. Why?"

"Oh," he gave Will a mischievous look. "Well I could always book a room and then if she gets tired from a long day of sightseeing I could show her to a place where she could see sights of a different manner," he wiggled his eyebrows suggestively.

"Richard." Will was desperately trying not to let his mind go _there. _Instead he focused very hard on the painting behind Richard's head and thought of other things.

"What? A hotel would be a different sight from the dockyards. I wasn't suggesting anything else, really cousin, such a dirty mind you have."

Will sighed and shot him a look as they started the game. He knew that despite the way that Richard was talking, he was only joking and probably wouldn't do anything. He wasn't completely sure as to how interested he was in her and how she felt about him but perhaps if he spoke to Richard about it then he wouldn't do anything to involve himself with her. That way though, that would make Richard know that he was interested in her. Which he wasn't. He had told him about her before when they had met at the airport but when he had mentioned her he had made him seem relatively casual.

"_So you haven't explained it to Chris?"_

"_I can't Richard and neither can you."_

"_Fine. I'm just saying. It feels wrong. Especially after all that he did with Georgy."_

"_I know but it will work out. Speaking of Georgy, how does she seem to you?"_

"_Um I haven't heard much from her," this alone was worrying news for Will. "But I'm sure she's ok," Richard added hastily noting the look on Will's face, "I think she's just been busy. Remember I am only her cousin, how many people keep in that close contact with theirs? She phones Mum occasionally and you still hear from her a lot?"_

"_Yeah but I'm still not sure about her. Maybe I should spend more time with her away from Pemberley?"_

"_Really? Why? Aren't you spending all of the summer there, anyway? I thought that the Bingleys were supposed to be coming down for awhile and I think I'm going to be there for week with them as we overlap each other, aren't I?_

"_Yes, I think so. But I'm not talking about that. Georgy still doesn't seem to be very confident around people. She's ok in the village and with people like Charlie and Chris but I just worry what she's like on her own. She doesn't seem to be as confident as other girls of her age. I met this one woman who I would love to introduce her to."_

"_I don't think that you should necessarily underestimate her, she's probably better at socialising than you might think. It's not like you're an exact expert on the subject." He laughed but Will scowled at him and Richard remembered that Will could never really handle being laughed at. "So, there a woman you want to introduce to Georgy? Relationship getting serious?"_

"_Ha ha. No I just think that she would make a great friend for Georgy. She's so confident and bubbly and uh nice," he checked himself realising that he might go off and then Richard would realise how he felt about her. Richard however was thinking that however wonderful for Georgy this woman might be it was almost as if Will was picking her friends for her. It reminded him very much of his Aunt Catherine. _

"_What's her name?"_

"_Elizabeth. Elizabeth Bennet. She's dating Chris so maybe they'll meet anyway."_

"_Chris, Chris Bingley? Really? And there serious?" There was a nod from Will._

"_When did that happen?" Richard couldn't wrap his mind around the idea of Chris Bingley being serious about anyone, that was so much more typical of his brother. _

"_Not that long ago." Hmm that was interesting. He would never tell William this, he didn't really think about it a lot but he had always wondered if Chris would be a good match for Georgy. He had made such a positive impact on her after Wickham but still. _

"_Well that's interesting. I wonder if it'll last. Do you think that she'll end up being the one?" Will shrugged unbeknownst to Richard this idea that had not occurred to him before was a strange and painful realisation. _

"_Maybe."_

"_Hmm, it's weird. I've never really thought who Chris would end up with but I guess it's nice for him. So what about Charlie? Is he in love again?"_

"_Well that's a completely different story...."_

******

"So this is a school where two Nobel Prize winners went?" Lizzie looked up at the square building with an iron fence about it as the stood on a warm day in Londonderry. They had gone there first instead of Belfast as it was due to rain later in the week in Londonderry

"Yep. The poet guy and the other one."

"May I just say that you're the best tour guide ever?" Lizzie teased Richard.

"Well yes, I really give a good sense of the history of the place. Ok, so I don't know that much about the area but I'm sure we can find a local pub which will tell you all about the area but most importantly will have alcohol."

She smiled in agreement and they went in search of a drink.

Darcy meanwhile was having a miserable day. He had been "required" by his Aunt to spend the day with Anne. There was something about seeing her frail weak body and all the medicine pills lined up on her beside cabinet that really creeped him out.

They had got on well as children; Anne was often in England with her father on trips and as Will didn't have many other companions and she was a lively tomboy type of girl they had often played together. Then when her Father had died and she had become sick, Lady Catherine had managed to get more control over her and she had become quiet and withdrawn. She hadn't been over to England for about ten years and after his own parent had died he had been too busy to visit. It was at that time that he had discovered Lady Catherine's plans for the pair and that made all conversation between the two rather awkward. She was a nice girl but after so many years being stifled by her mother and generally cut off from the world she had started to lose her bubbly personality.

He had spent the rest of the time wondering what exactly Richard and Elizabeth were up to. When they arrived back, far too late in his opinion, Richard was not exactly forthcoming with information.

"Well, we walked around for a bit." He knew he was being deliberately vague but it was fun to see Will grow more and more annoyed.

"For the whole day? I don't think so."

"No we stopped for lunch. There was the funniest looking man at the other table." Richard was starting to laugh, "he was in the bright green hat.... and this jacket....." his mouth creased up in laughter until Will could no longer understand what he was saying.

Richard looked up to see Will not laughing, "Well maybe you just had to be there."

"Apparently so," he said dryly.

At what was worse was the fact that Lady Catherine who was encouraging Richard in pursuing Lizzie, wanted to hear all about their day over the dinner table which meant that Will had to hear it over again.

This carried on for a few days. Darcy became submersed in trying to save his Aunt's business which was extremely difficult given the way it was run and the kind of expenditures that she had.

Lizzie was spending some of her time with Richard but a lot of her time with Charlotte. When she wasn't around Richard began to (only partly intentionally) irate Will.

"You know you were right, for once."

"Really? What about." Will was actually interested.

"I think that Lizzie would be great for Georgy. She could really help to bring her out of her shell."

"Oh. Yeah." He said flatly and returned his gaze to the book he was reading.

"I mean I know she's not dating Bingley anymore but maybe they'll meet under different circumstances."

"What?" Will snapped his head up, somehow imagining from those few words Richard at a church waiting for Lizzie who was walking down in a long white dress and all he could do was watch on the side lines as best man.

"I mean they're still friends and they get on great and everything, according to her and I think that I've become pretty close to her as well.."

Will let out a breath of fresh air; Richard hadn't meant what he thought he had meant. Richard glanced over at him suspiciously and so he turned the page I his book despite the fact that he was still only on the second paragraph on that page.

After a while of the two of them going out exploring Ireland with Will and Lady Catherine only hearing snatches of what had happened that day, Lady Catherine decided that she wanted to observe the couple up close. She hadn't informed her other nephew as she brought it up at the dinner table.

"Richard, what are your plans with Elizabeth for tomorrow?"

"Nothing's definitely arranged so far. She's coming over in the morning but I don't think we completely know where we're planning to go." Richard knew his Aunt well enough to know how she liked control and so asked. "Is there anywhere in particular that you would recommend?"

"I was thinking that you haven't spent much time in a more relaxed in environment when you can get to know each other."

"Um yeah." Richard had been thinking about that himself. They had been driving around Ireland for a while now and had seen pretty much everything, the Giant's Causeway, Belfast, Londonderry and many other tourist attractions but it would be nice to just sit down and relax

"Yes, Richard," she corrected him. "Now as far as I know the tennis courts are free tomorrow, if not I'll get someone to do some reshuffling so it's available. William you've been working so hard, why don't you join them?" Will looked up at his Aunt in surprise.

"I don't think that Anne will be able to play along with you but I'm sure that Charlotte Collins will be happy to join you. Nigel works a lot and so I'm sure she'd be happy to join you. You could play doubles."

Richard agreed and Will nodded attempting to look casual but not succeeding, a fact that Richard couldn't help but notice. Now he could observe how the two reacted together.

Later when Richard had gone to the toilet (after the meal had finished, Lady Catherine didn't allow that sort of thing in the middle of dinner) she explained to Will that she wanted him to see how the pair reacted around each other so that he could report back to her on whether Richard was making any progress.

Richard phoned Lizzie again and the plans were settled.

Fortunately the next morning proved to be a glorious, bright sunny morning and by the time the two woman arrived to meet the three cousins it was quite warm and didn't have a strong breeze which would be good for them whilst they were playing tennis.

Charlotte and Lizzie got changed, Lizzie didn't have anything that appropriate with her so had borrowed from Charlotte and walked out onto the court. Sitting with a large parasol, in a reclining chair with a table next to her and a jug of lemonade on it was Anne de Bourg who Lizzie had not met. Lady Catherine was approaching as they started to gather together and stretch up, picking the best rackets.

"Ah Elizabeth and Charlotte. Wonderful to see you again. This is my daughter, Anne, who may soon be engaged to Fitzwilliam here." She wouldn't normally mention this straight away but she was rather concerned that William was interested in the Bennet girl or that she may be interested in him.

Lizzie nodded but glanced at Anne and Darcy, a fact which he couldn't help but noticed. Was she jealous? He hoped so.

Lady Catherine left and they all stretched and decided who was going to partner up with whom. They decided against boys versus girls but paired up with Richard and Lizzie who were serving against Will and Charlotte.

"So are you two ready to lose?" Lizzie asked bouncing the ball on the floor against her racket.

"You know," Will turned to Charlotte, who admittedly he didn't know that well but he was enjoying the fact that Lizzie could joke around, "I can't say that I am ready to lose. I guess it's a good thing that we'll be the ones winning."

"Oh really? Somehow I don't think so." Richard laughed and watched as Lizzie began to serve pounding the ball furiously over the net towards his cousin.

He hit it back with equal speed and skill and the match continued in this fashion just between the two of them who were obviously very skilled at tennis when Lizzie hit the ball towards Charlotte who was clearly the weaker link.

"Fifteen- love!" Lizzie called and she and Richard high fived. Will scowled and hoped that they wouldn't win, he didn't want to see them cheering or Richard gloating, so doubled his energy into the game.

It was a close call but eventually Lizzie and Richard one, she was very good, he was ok and Charlotte was awful. Exhausted, they stopped for drinks. Will couldn't help but noticed how close Richard and Lizzie were and decided that he should do something about it. The only thing was working out what exactly to do.

What Will didn't know that as there wasn't enough lemonade when he and Charlotte had offered to get more Richard, who knew that Will was interested in Lizzie was talking him up to her.

"So are they really getting married?" She gestured over to where Anne was sitting reading.

"Nah. It's only Cathy's crazy idea. It'll never happen."

"So she's arranging Darcy's wedding? Can he not get anyone by himself?"

"Ha, no she's not arranging it. Only in her dreams. You know Will's not actually that bad. Many women find him incredibly attractive. You might get on with him."

"I don't really think so."

Richard was disappointed but then knew how socially awkward his cousin could be so said, "He's actually a really great guy. Always trying to help people. Look at what he just did for Bingley."

"Bingley, which Bingley?"

"Oh Charlie. You've met him, haven't you? Great guy, just a bit flaky. Well he's always falling in and out of love, often with girls who are completely inappropriate, never usually lasts but there was this one girl a few months ago who he really started to fall for."

Lizzie had been listening intently and nearly gasped when he said that about Charlie; it had to be Jane.

"Go on."

"Yeah, so she was obviously a gold digger, just trying to latch on to him and it looked like it was working so Will helped Charlie out. Took him off to New York to get him away."

Lizzie's head was spinning.

"She was a gold digger?"

"Apparently. Obviously not in love with him, really playing him or so Will said."

"So he separated them?"

"Yeah I mean Charlie was talking very crazily about her and he hadn't known her long."

Lizzie knew that was true, they hadn't known each other long but who was Darcy to say whether or not they were in love?

Seconds later Darcy and Charlotte returned and when everyone was rested they decided to start up again. Charlotte felt bad about letting Darcy down and so offered to sit out. It was up to the rest of them to decide who would play who. Richard offered to sit out as well and Darcy turned to Lizzie and asked,

"How about it? Ready to be beaten?"

Growing angrier by the minute Lizzie merely nodded and walked around to her side of the net, turning her racket over in her hands and bouncing on her toes ready to give him the game of his life.

Richard, Charlotte and Anne had been talking amongst themselves but the game soon became so exciting that they stopped to watch.

Both players were very good at playing and were playing to win. Darcy was excited by the passion that she was showing. She just wanted to beat him any way possible and to make him sweat a little furious at him as with each swing of the net she remembered how devastated Jane had been and how he had callously separated them.

"Urgh." He let out that groan as he hit the ball back aiming for a long shot that skimmed over the net but hit the back of the court.

"Aaaah." Lizzie had dived down to get the ball to hit back but had gone over on her ankle, badly.

Everyone rushed over to see her laying in a strange angle clutching her foot which was bleeding slightly.

"Are you ok?" Charlotte asked.

"Not really," Lizzie answered through gritted teeth.

"I'm so sorry, Lizzie," Darcy had rushed over but she didn't look up at him. "I'll take you back to Charlotte. Help you clean up."

"It's ok." She still wasn't looking at him and he noticed that she didn't say thanks. She didn't want to spend any time with him right now as she was so angry she knew she would probably end up hitting him.

"I'll take the two of you back, the hire car's just around the corner. " Richard offered.

Lizzie nodded and was helped to her feet by Charlotte and Richard, still not looking back at Darcy who was very annoyed that she had said yes to Richard but not him. He wasn't annoyed with her but him and resolved to talk to him tonight.

She was helped in and out of the car and when she got into the house she told Charlotte she was taking a bath but instead just slumped on the bed. Her ankle was still bleeding slightly despite the fact that she had put a bandage on it.

Her phone rang and she scrambled around, wincing as she looked for it.

"Hello?"

"Lizzie?" The voice was slurred and hard for her to recognize.

"Chris? Where are you?" There was noise around him, loud and bustling.

"In a bar. Drinking is good, I have decided especially after since what that bastard Darcy did to me." He definitely sounded drunk and wasn't making much grammatical sense.

"Wait, what?" since when did Chris refer to Darcy as a bastard?

"Darcy equals bastard, bloody bastard"

What was Chris saying? She knew that Darcy was a bastard but never thought that Chris would say that.

"Slow down and explain."

"The stupid wanker ruined my life! He ruined my job applications, basically wrote that I was a drunk good for nothing drug addict."

"What?" Lizzie was seething, why would he do that?

"The application that he forwarded ruined all my chances. Someone at the company happened to mention it to a friend of mine. It's completely ridiculous- he's totally ruined me."

"Why?"

"I don't know! Because he's a bastard?"

"Yep, he most certainly is." Lizzie said grimly, unsure how to comfort him from miles away when he was drunk. "I'm coming home soon. Hand me over to the barman please."

Chris was too angry and drunk to question why. There was a shuffling sound as the phone was passed over.

"Hello?" the barman sounded very confused.

"Hi, sorry about this, my friend doesn't usually drink, could you please make sure he doesn't drive?"

"Yep, will do."

"Thanks."

"It's no problem, we do this a lot."

She said goodbye to Chris and began to compose a list in her head of all the reasons as to why she hated Darcy.

At the same time, the man in question was talking to Richard.

"Ok, so I know Lady Catherine has plans for the two of you but I need you to step away from Elizabeth."

"Oh really?" Richard asked slyly. "Why's that?"

"Just because. I know you're not that into her, you haven't been trying that much."

"I could be! You don't know. She could be my soul mate."

"Richard."

"William?" there was a long pause whilst the two men looked at each other. "Is there another reason not to date her?"

"No. Do you really want to date a girl who Aunt Catherine planned for you?"

"I don't know.... she is rather attractive. Still a little boring and rather self obsessed." Richard didn't actually think this but just wanted to get a rise out of Will.

"What?" well it looked like his target had been achieved. "She's not like that."

"Hmm I don't know."

"She's not." He couldn't believe that Richard was saying these things.

"So you are interested?"

Will nodded, admitting defeat.

"Well this should be fun." He laughed a gleeful smile.

Neither of them slept well; Darcy was trying to plan what to say to Elizabeth whilst she was trying to think of what she was going to say to him.

They both slept eventually. Lizzie falling asleep much later as she began to get a splitting headache.

Early the next morning Darcy, whistling as he went most unusually for him. Charlotte had been invited over for breakfast with Collins which meant that Lizzie would be alone in the house.

He rang the bell and Lizzie, still dressed in her pyjamas answered the door after a long time.

"Can I come in?" she was just standing in the doorway not moving. It was strange that she did things like that, he thought.

"I think you'd better." Oh that sounded promising. She lead him into the living room where they stood awkwardly facing each other.

She looked like she was about to speak but he knew that he had to get in there and jump at the opportunity.

"I was just wondering if you would go out with me. Well more than that, I mean I've seen where you live and I have a very large apartment in London and New York," he was talking to himself, rambling, now not noticing the look of horror on her face. "It's not like you really work so moving won't be a problem."

"What the hell are you talking about?"

He tried to readdress what he was trying to stay.

"I love you. Obviously I tried not to but I couldn't. Don't you realise what you do to me? I never felt like this before. I can barely stand to be around Richard, I'm avoiding Chris at all costs. You make me some sort of monster!"

"A monster?" Lizzie was very confused at what seemed to be an accusation.

"Yes, I can't bear it! I've never felt so, so jealous before... I mean I finally understand what Shakespeare was going on about Othello." He felt so relieved to get it off his chest.

"Yes, because that turned out so well." She couldn't help but be sarcastic despite the fact that she believed he'd gone nuts.

"Ok not Othello but you know what I mean. I mean didn't you feel the same? Of course you did, I saw the look you gave me when my Aunt was talking about Anne. And I know that she's probably better for me, hell there are probably so many woman better for me but I don't care; I want you. I don't care about what you do for a living or any of that, I just want you."

She was speechless for a moment and struggled to form a coherent sentence until anger took over, "There are so many things wrong with what you just said that I don't know where to begin."

He made to interrupt but she just held her hand up furiously to stop him.

"For starters, are you out of you mind? I certainly wasn't looking at you and Anne in jealousy. More likely pity for the poor girl. Or maybe it was just simply fascination that your Aunt wants you to marry your first cousin. Maybe that's what gives you this pompous, over controlling attitude to everyone. All this inbreeding over the years must have certainly had its effect."

"Inbreeding?" he choked back, furious at the way that she had attacked his family. "I think you're just offended that I said that she's probably better for me than you, you can't stand to think that anyone's better than you."

"I can't stand to think that anyone's better than me? Pot this is kettle; you're black." She muttered the last part under her breath. .

"What?" He frowned at her.

"Never mind I wasn't finished. There may be better woman for you and I don't doubt that but there are certainly better men for me. Men who wouldn't go around splitting their best friends from the love of their lives or sabotaging other men's lives because of jealousy. Is that why you did it to Chris?" her voice was high pitched at this point and she was hurt that she was the reason that Chris hadn't got a job but then remembered that it was all because of Darcy. "What sort of person ruins a man's chances in life because he's jealous?" she couldn't believe him.

"For someone who claims not to be in a relationship with him you seem awfully concerned." He spoke dryly.

"You know what?" she was getting louder. "You have every reason to feel jealous of Chris. He is everything that you will never be, kind, funny, caring about others. He has principles."

"And I don't?"

She made to interrupt but he held his hand up to stop her just as she had done.

"I listened to you, one of my principles that apparently I don't have, so you could listen to me. You don't know anything about me or what I did for Charlie or for Chris. Let's face it, you're just upset because unlike my cousin or Bingley I didn't kiss the ground you walk on but told you the truth. You're not this perfect woman and you can't handle that I don't see you as such."

"You know what? Maybe you're right," she was yelling at him now, full on. "I am upset that you "obviously" tried to make yourself stop liking me as if I'm that repulsive. But then I must be if I make you become a monster."

"No I didn't mean that," he tried to take back what he had said. "I merely meant that you're not the type of woman that I'm expected to be with."

"You not expected to end up with a woman. You want a doll. Just something else that you can control."

"I'm sorry that you seem to believe that. I hope I haven't taken up to much of your time."

His jaw clenched, he turned on his heel and left Lizzie standing there starring at him not believing what had happened to her. He couldn't really believe it either.

**Author's note- **the title of this story original came from Othello when I found out that the phrase green eyed monster was first coined there along with the colour associations of green being linked to jealousy.

Longest Chapter yet- please Review


	13. Turbulance and the Aftermath

**Turbulence and the aftermath/ The end of the illusion**

Lizzie sank down onto the bed, her hands shaking. She didn't really know what had just happened and still couldn't quite process it.

Had Darcy really said all those things to her?

Had she really said all those things to him?

Still it proved what a total and complete bastard the man was. Who the hell asked someone out like that? And he didn't even try to explain himself. Nope, in her opinion he had just risen by about eight thousand points in the arse category.

She lay down on her bed, exhausted from sheer emotion and anger.

Darcy returned back to the house, slamming the door shut behind him.

Richard who was checking his email looked up. "Hey there," he eyed his cousin who had looked very cheerful this morning and had returned sooner than he had expected, suspiciously, "everything ok?"

"Yes. Fine," Will nodded curtly and took of his shoes. He wanted to go to the decanter on the side table and pour himself some whiskey but knew that this was not a good idea at 10 O' clock in the morning.

"So, we fly back tomorrow."

"Yes." He was glad that they were going home, if only because then he wouldn't have to deal with Elizabeth but he didn't want to have to share that information with Richard.

"I was just checking, to make sure. It's easyjet flying at 4:20 right?"

"Yes I think so," Darcy leaned back in his chair wondering why Richard was that bothered. He closed his eyes as he leant back but when he saw another pair of perfectly curved very feminine brown eyes looking at him in anger he quickly snapped them open.

"Well that's an amazing coincidence." He paused, waiting for Will to ask what the amazing coincidence was. When there was no response he said. "You'll never guess whose also flying back on that very same flight?"

There was another pause and Will still hadn't said anything.

"Lizzie." Richard said irritated at the way Will was behaving.

"What?" Will snapped his head up. Finally Richard had got his attention.

"Yeah, isn't that good odds? I mean there aren't that many flights to Gatwick so maybe it's not such a big coincidence but I still think that's pretty strange."

Will was not listening. He was **not** listening. He was not going to connect himself in any way to her.

Richard noticed how Will was acting strangely and was determined to get to the bottom of it. He wondered if it was somehow connected to Lizzie. Will had said he was going to go for a walk this morning but he looked decidedly moody when he had come back and Richard had to wonder if he had stopped by the Collins house.

"And you know because it's easyjet it means that seats aren't set. When you print out your ticket you can pick where to sit. We could offer her a ride to the airport and then all seat together. It would be nice to have that time away from some of the loonies here and to say goodbye properly."

This was a nightmare. An actual living nightmare, Will decided. It looked like he was definitely going to have to see her again. He had to try to persuade Richard from this. He knew that he couldn't possibly bear to see her again for a long period of time.

"I'm not sure that's the best idea, Richard. Maybe she just wants time to be left alone."

"I'm sure she doesn't. It'll be fine."

"Really, I think that Charlotte will want to drive her back to the airport to say goodbye and I don't know if the rental car will take all that luggage. People like privacy when flying."

Right, so that was three excuses given immediately, Richard had to wonder what other ones that Will would try to come up with.

"Maybe, I'll call her to see what is happening." If something had happened between the two of them then Richard should be a decent guy and let her get out of sitting with them.

"Right then. I think I'm going to go for a swim," maybe lots of hard, physical exercise would help him get his mind of things.

"my my Darcy, first a walk and now a swim. That's a lot of physical exercise today. Is that because you're not doing any other form of physical activity?" he winked suggestively, "They do say that it helps to fight depression."

"Whatever Richard," Darcy stormed out hating that his cousin was right.

Well that's interesting, thought Richard as he heard Will storm out.

Charlotte was concerned for Lizzie. She had spent the rest of the day, after she's got back to the house to discover that she still wasn't dressed, moping around not doing anything. She packed a little and they watched a film but Lizzie looked tired and as though she didn't care. They went shopping for a little bit but that was about it. To Charlotte who suspected that there might be something in particular that was bothering Lizzie but that she wasn't sharing it, it was the final sign of how far apart they had grown.

Lizzie was thinking about this as she packed. She had thought that she would find Charlotte unhappy in this new life that she had made but she wasn't. She seemed perfectly content even though she had accepted a proposal from a man who she had barely known. It would have been as strange as her accepting Darcy's offer last night and she knew that if she had then she would never have been happy.

Her final day was similar to that one except she found that she was very tired. She had been thinking of Darcy for the entire evening and in the few moments that her brain allowed her a reprieve from that hell she was faced with images if Jane. She woke up in the middle of the night to discover the sheets twisted around her and her body running a very high temperature. She got out of bed and opened the window so that she could breathe normally but still felt stifled. She decided it was the Irish air and that when she got home everything would be all right.

Morning soon came as did the final hours before the flight. She declined Richard's offer (politely she hoped) and she and Charlotte went for a late lunch in an exclusive restaurant.

At the airport there was hugs and kisses, promises of future visits, emails and calls but also that unspoken acknowledgement between the two that whilst this may not be the end of their relationship it was certainly the end of what their relationship had once been. At this particularly poignant moment for Lizzie she realised that this is what the whole trip had been, the end of an illusion. Charlie hadn't dumped Jane because he was bored with her; Chris hadn't not been given that job because of bad luck and the man that had caused both of these illusions did not hate her but in fact claimed the opposite. Maybe he hated her now, she though glumly and then decided that she didn't care if he did after what he had done to Jane and Charlie. It was a strange feeling though having someone hate her. There had been girls who hadn't liked her, people she hadn't cared for or not wanted anything to do with but she wasn't sure if anyone had actually hated her before.

*******

It had been a mistake. Whatever Darcy thought, Richard had made a mistake. It wasn't like he had planned it. Ok so he probably wasn't going to talk to him for a while but it wasn't like he had meant for that to happen. Admittedly the circumstances were a little suspicious but as they say, karma's a strange thing.

He was going to kill him. He was actually going to murder him. Except of course he couldn't actually murder him until they got off this plane, otherwise he would have to try to get past _her._

It had all started out so well. They had arrived at the airport early, very early; Will was a nervous flier. Deciding that as there were very few shops on the other side of security, they would have a drink in Costa to kill the time. After two cups of coffee, Will was extreme grateful that they hadn't run into Lizzie, it was a very small airport so that was quite an amazing coincidence.

Of course the moment he was thinking of this, Richard saw her, checking her ticket out and joining the queue for security. Looking at the time, he realised that maybe they should be doing the same. Will nodded, knowing his cousin was right but truthfully he would have much rather stayed, drinking coffee until well after they plane took off and then he would know absolutely that there was no chance that they would end up on the same plane as her.

And now he was sitting next to her. On a plane. A small cramped plane with no first or business class where they had to share an armrest. Two days after they had yelled and screamed at each other. Brilliant, thanks very much for that Richard.

It probably wasn't that much of a coincidence. They knew that they were going to be on the same flight back. By the time they had checked in their tickets, most seats had been taken, Richard knew that Will liked to sit nearer the front and there weren't any sets of two next to each other. He couldn't completely blame him for that. But when he had refused to move and swap seats when they saw who was sitting there, well now that he could blame Richard for.

He hated flying.

He noticed, although he tried not to that she paid close attention to the security warnings, just as he usually did.

Lizzie couldn't believe it. Since when had life been that unfair? She was sure it was a mistake. Just some cruel trick played by the flight attendants. She had wanted to yank his ticket out of his hand and check but had seen the look on his face as he checked once, twice and how he had turned back to Richard eyebrows raised.

She had paid special attention to the security warning, looking straight ahead, just so she had a direction to look. She pulled her book and ipod out, being careful to stick to one side and not go anyway near _him._ She was bending over in her seat so far that her seatbelt was cutting into her sides.

Neither of them had looked at the other and both were aware of this. They were also aware that neither was touching the armrest that they had to share and that when the time came neither of them would order any drinks from the airhostess for fear that they might have to talk to each other as they leaned across to collect it.

The plane took off smoothly, he was trying not to notice but couldn't help but see that she pulled out a packet of polo's and sucked them with her eyes closed as the plane took off. He remembered his mother teaching him the same trick to avoid his ears popping.

It wasn't long before the air stewards were pushing the trolley down the aisle of the plane asking if anyone wanted to buy any drinks.

"Tea, Coffee, Hot chocolate?" she asked in a soft Derry accent.

He didn't look up from his book, he had a newspaper in his bag but was worried that the rustling would irritate Lizzie, but he wasn't reading the thriller novel that he had on his lap. Instead he was thinking.....

"_And here's a hot chocolate for you" Richard passed over a steaming mug to a very grateful and very cold Elizabeth._

_She took a sip, "Wow this is really good."_

"_Oh Willy here made it. Top secret recipe." Will squirmed away as Richard flung his arm around his shoulder. _

"_Well it's very nice." She smiled at him and this time his insides squirmed again at the thought of her complimenting him._

_They were finishing up their drinks in the guest lounge when Richard noticed a magazine lying on the nearby coffee table. He was surprised that his Aunt had allowed it and picked it up at the edge with the pages falling open at a quiz entitled, So What Do You Look For In A Man? _

_He was reading through it whilst the conversation carried on around him, Charlotte was asking about the sights that Lizzie had seen in Ireland and Darcy was still brooding off into the corner._

"_Apparently I look for a man is interested in sports. He likes time spent on his own or with his friends and it may be hard to make him commit. Hmm that seems likely," Richard added whilst the others apart from Darcy laughed._

_However when Lizzie picked up the magazine and started to look at the questions following the arrows to the type that she liked._

"_Lizzie?" Charlotte asked. "What type do you look for?"_

"_Oh these quizzes are a waste of time. I've been going around in circles. If you answer No to three questions in a row I end up in a circle answering the same questions."_

"_Yeah but what do you actually look for in a man?" Charlotte asked. _

"_Why?" she looked at her friend in mock suspicion. "Are you planning on placing on a personal ad for me?"_

"_I don't know," Richard tipped his head, calculating. "You do seem like the type to end up as a spinster and we've got more chance of finding you someone if you start early." _

_She hit him on the shoulder but laughed but Will didn't think that it was really an appropriate comment and scowled at his cousin; he knew for certain that Lizzie wouldn't end up a spinster. _

"_Hmm. I don't know, I guess someone who's attentive and funny. Likes films, books and, um Oh yeah someone who can cook for me would be nice."_

_There that must be a hint, Will thought. She knew that he cooked so why else had she mentioned that?_

_He could already picture it; the two of them at his apartment enjoying a quiet breakfast, possibly in bed reading the Sunday papers. He could make Eggs Benedict, get more time of work and enjoy the hours spent with her. Georgy could come over in the afternoon for Sunday roast and it would be brilliant. He smiled to himself, it would all work out. _

The flight continues in a bored fashion as the trolley was pushed down the aisle by the stewardesses.

Will was trying desperately to focus on his book but all he could think about was Elizabeth. He had been so sure that she would say yes to him. She had smiled at him and laughed; they had got on far better than they had when they had met previously. He was sure that she must have known his feelings towards her and had begun to warm up to him. She had remembered his sister's name, asked about New York, everything that someone who was interested in someone would do. He guessed that he had miss read the signs.

Lizzie was also thinking of the same things. She was wondering why on earth he had decided that she was interested in him? Had she perhaps mislead him? It was true that she had talked to him more than when they had met before but she had honestly meant for it to be casual, friendly conversation. She had been spending a lot of time with Richard and she had decided that it was a waste of time to be angry or annoyed with Darcy just because he wasn't that good at socialising. Perhaps he was a decent guy, she was starting to think but that was until he had asked her to move in with her and said all those things to her, as well as finding out about all those things he had done for his own personal selfish reasons. Maybe she had sent out the wrong signs.

The plane turned slightly and Will noticed that the air stewards were hastily putting the trolley away. There was a beeping noise and then the seat belt sign came on. Frowning slightly he checked his watch; he hadn't thought that it was time for them to be descending yet and he was right. He paused from reading his book and tipped his head up waiting for the announcement to say that they were running ahead of schedule. It didn't come.

The plane jolted down suddenly causing him to grip the armrest at the same time as Lizzie. They both tried not to look at each other but they couldn't help it given their close proximity.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, this is a message from the cabin crew. We are currently experiencing some turbulence. We ask you to remain calm and relaxed but please remain in your seats with your seatbelts on. "

Oh shit, it was happening. He couldn't believe it was happening. Did he have his phone on him? Could he call Georgy? He knew that they didn't allow phone calls but if they were all about to plummet to the ground in a fiery death, he swallowed, then at least they ought to be able to say goodbye.

He gripped the armrest tighter as the plane turned violently to the left and closed his eyes. Realising that this was worse, he opened them suddenly when he felt Lizzie's hand on top of his, gripping the armrest. He turned to her and unbeknownst to him he had terror in his eyes. She was unaware of the fact but she was looking at him in sympathy.

This was it he thought, he one fear, his biggest fear was about to be revealed. And it was so pathetic!

He blamed Richard, irrationally, he knew as the plane turned another violent turn but he couldn't believe that _she_ was here, when this was happen. He would normally fly first class where he could get alcohol and relax and where Elizabeth Bennet was not sitting.

"You're going to be ok," she whispered and he thought that she was talking to herself when he realised that she was looking at him.

Lizzie still thought that he was an arsehole but she could understand this weakness and she should try to help. It made him seem more human.

"Just relax, it will be ok. This has happened thousands of times before."

The fact that she was trying to comfort him just made him feel all the more worse. He had let this wonderful woman slip through his fingers and as much as he might try to convince himself otherwise he knew that it was his own fault and that she had been right in the things that she had said to him.

He had been trying to not think of her but he knew now that he had to think of something else other than the turbulence, so let his mind wander to that morning. By the time the flight had ended he had resolved what to do.

As soon as Lizzie had gone through checkout and picked up her luggage and walked through the departure gate and saw Chris, reliable, dependable, solid Chris standing there, waiting, she rushed forward and hugged him, flinging her arms around his neck.

Will watched from afar, glancing to his left where he saw a newspaper stand and edged closer so that he could see which paper Chris was holding and hear Lizzie ask about going to a bar. He could see that the journey had taken its toll on her and knew the last few days probably hadn't helped. He waited until he heard Chris suggest a place, near his apartment, it was a place that he knew well and joined Richard by the till to pay for his newspaper working out a quick route to get there.

"So how was it?" Chris eyed Lizzie suspiciously as they made their way toward the car park. He didn't think that he had ever seen Lizzie look quite so dishevelled.

"Oh there was a lot of turbulence on the flight." She asked not really focusing.

"I meant the actual trip. Charlotte? Collins?"

"Oh fine." She answered quietly and he frowned wondering what had happened to her, deciding to ignore it, she was probably tired and had been travelling for a long time.

"So did you see the papers today?"

"No." She turned to him, "Why?"

"You haven't seen any of them?" He pulled her over to a shop near the exit. "Look at that. Does that name seem at all familiar?"

She scanned the headlines.

"Biggest Corporate scandal since Enron!"

"Company steals Millions from Pension Fund!"

"Shock Scandal at Major Company!"

She started to read the article from one paper about the advertising company Naytin that had been involved in stock fraud, stealing from a pension fund amongst numerous other illegal activities.

"Wasn't that the company you applied to a job for?"

"Yeah, I guess it's a good thing that I didn't get the job for otherwise I could have become involved. It would have caused tension in our family anyway, maybe Darcy knew what he was doing?"

"I doubt it," she muttered under her breath never wanting to hear his name again.

"Yeah maybe," he agreed with her not wanting to argue. He suspected that Darcy had known but still wished that Darcy had told him. He knew he was a good guy but that still made him an arsehole that he hadn't confided his plans in Chris.

They drove to the bar near his flat in relative silence, he could tell that something was bothering her and asked once but just got a brief, rather snappy answer of "nothing" and so left it.

They found a parking space with surprising ease and walked into the bar where he was surprised to see Lizzie immediately order tequila despite the fact that she wasn't a drinker of strong spirits.

She drunk it exceptionally quickly and then ordered another. Chris realised that he was probably going to have to keep an eye on her.

Will walked into the bar with Richard who was a little confused as to why Will really wanted a drink when his apartment was around the corner. They picked a corner, hidden away near the toilets with Will sitting as close to the wall as possible. Richard immediately saw Chris and Lizzie. Will was debating telling Richard the truth when he asked why they couldn't go and say hi but decided not to, just claiming that he was tired and that Chris probably wouldn't want to speak to him after the interview thing. Richard brought the story surprisingly easily.

"Elizabeth, don't you think you've had enough?" Chris tried to be stern with her but failed when she started pouting at him.

"I have decided that's not my name anymore. Jane and I decided this years ago, my name shall be Zsa Zsa."

He smiled at her.

"Yes that's going to be my stage name, I think it's perfect."

He nodded at her trying to hide his grin at how drunk she was, when she turned her head violently.

"Is that Richard in the corner?"

Darcy who had been listening in, ducked.

"Richard?" Who was Richard? Chris only knew one and that was Richard Fitzwilliam who he doubted she would know.

"Richard Fitzwilliam," she flung her arm around wildly, giggling.

Surprised that it was that same Richard, Chris looked over to where she was pointing and sure enough being dragged back behind a wall was Richard Fitzwilliam.

"How do you know him?" Chris was still frowning back at where Richard was sitting.

"He was in Ireland with Darcy," _his_ name was grunted by her.

"Darcy?" Chris had to wonder if all the alcohol had confused her.

"Yes, Darcy was there, who by the way asked me to move in with me."

"What?" Chris couldn't believe it.

But Lizzie wasn't listening to him, "yes he asked me to move in with him after insulting me and not denying all the things that he had done." She was rambling mainly to herself.

"All the things he had done?" Chris was trying to get out what had happened.

"Yes he was a real bastard about it."

He was? How dare he? What right had he?

Chris fumed, wanting to get to the bottom of it and knowing that Richard was there decided to go over to see him. Making sure that Lizzie was ok, he marched over to where he was sitting with....Darcy who had just finished writing a letter.

"Chris?" He looked up awkwardly.

"Darcy." There was no emotion in Chris's voice; he was waiting to see what Darcy had to say.

"I should go and pay the bill. Richard, you ready to go?"

Richard nodded whilst Chris couldn't help but think of what a coward Darcy was.

"Can you uh, give this to Elizabeth?" he held up the letter.

Chris nodded.

Darcy left to pay the bill and Chris, knowing that he shouldn't but concerned for his friend, he opened it and started to read.

_Dear Elizabeth Bennet,_

_I am deeply sorry that if what I said to you caused offence and can assure you that I did not intend for that to happen. I feel I ought to apologise but also explain myself to you. There were two accusations that you laid before me and I feel that I should be given the opportunity to try to right them._

_I am not aware if you have read all of the papers today but as you have quite possibly seen, many of them cover the news of the stock fraud at the Naytin Agency. In case you were not aware this is the company that Christopher Bingley applied for and to whom I wrote the appalling character reference, which I must say was completely made up and is about as far from the truth as you can get. I know that you believe that I did this because I was spiteful and jealous and I am aware that it was rather a vindictive thing to do but I do have my reasons and I was not entirely comfortable with doing it. _

_Firstly let me say that it is not a coincidence that it is the same company. I do not know if you have read any of the articles connected with the case but one of the men arrested who may be charged and face over a year in jail has only been working at the company for a few months, he is in fact the one that got the job that Chris was going to apply for._

_I'm probably getting ahead of myself in trying to explain this; I have a friend who works with Scotland Yard in tracking down these cases of stock fraud. One evening he got very drunk and revealed to me the name of the company that they were now investigating which was the same as the one that Chris had applied for. I knew that should he get the job, which he should have as he is very qualified then it was more than likely that he would be asked to sign paperwork that could be connected to the stolen pension fund and the stock fraud and could have ended up becoming a huge role in it without realising. It would have been very likely that they would have tried to make him some sort of scapegoat and he could have ended up with several years in jail. By the time I had checked that it was the same company it was too late to tell him not to enter. It was very important for the undercover team to make sure that everything was normal and if someone such as Chris Bingley had pulled out of a job application then it would have looked very suspicious and all the months of hard work could have been wasted. I had no choice but to try to do anything that would make sure that Chris would not get the job even though it did mean lying. _

_Your second accusation was that I had separated your sister and Charlie. I'm not sure how to write this and am aware that you may find it painful. I have seen a lot of women become attached to Charlie who have not been honest in their affections. I knew that Jane, whilst being very intelligent and well deserving of her numerous promotions is also very ambitious in her profession and I was concerned that as Charlie is the head of the company then she might try to latch herself onto him. I was obviously mistaken about her character and may have been too hasty in my actions but it is only because I was concerned for my friend and wanted to do the best for him. Since coming to New York I have done nothing but look out for Charlie and make sure that he is ok. _

_I wish you the best health and happiness._

_Yours Sincerely_

_Fitzwilliam Darcy_

Chris was fuming. What on earth and why on earth had Darcy done that? Separated Charlie and Jane? Couldn't he see how right they were for each other? And what exactly had he said to Lizzie?

Richard was watching him carefully. He knew that Chris probably shouldn't have read that letter but knew that his cousin was being a coward and that Chris was concerned for his friend. Looking over to where she was sitting he guessed that Chris had reason to, she looked hammered.

There was a long queue at the bar and so by the time Will had returned Chris had refolded the letter, put it into it's envelope and was holding it. Darcy nodded at him and walked out without another backwards glance, that was another mistake in Chris's opinion.

With a glance towards Lizzie, Chris threw the letter down onto the table and followed Richard and Darcy out who were walking at an extremely fast pace.

"Darcy!" He yelled and jogged down the street after him.

He turned and suddenly Chris's fist was in his face.

He fell back in surprise, his eye already throbbing.

"That's for what you did to Charlie but mainly for what you said to Lizzie, you bastard." Chris shook his fist, trying to relieve the tension in it.

He turned and left a very stunned Darcy on the damp street.

* * *

So I'm doing things slightly differently.

Typically at this point you might get to try to understand some of Darcy's character and his actions. Ordinarilly you may also begin to feel sorry for him and have Lizzie soften towards him. I'm going to work the plot out slightly differently but don't worry you will like Darcy in the end as will Lizzie.

Thanks to Mrs Dom Masbolle who gave me the idea for Chris punching Darcy and thanks to everyone who reviewed.


	14. Making out Darcy

**Making out Darcy **

"Will? Is that you?" There was a nervous female voice when Richard pushed open the door to the flat.

"Georgy?"

"Richard?" She stuck her head around the door holding a rolling pin in her right hand ready to strike. "Will? What are you doing here?"

Will came bounding in the room, excited to see his sister and hugged her. "What are we doing here? What are you doing here?"

"You're not supposed to be back today. You're getting in tomorrow. I came to surprise you." She let go off him wondering if she had got the dates mixed round and looked up at him.

"Shit! What happened to you?"

"Chris Bingley punched him," Richard said gleefully.

"What?"

"Chris Bingley punched him."

"Yes thank you Richard, I think she heard you the first time." Will said curtly and stuck down.

"Why?"

"Well that's a very interesting story, shall you tell it or shall I, Willy?"

Will glared at him whilst Georgiana looked on curiously.

******

Lizzie was slumped against Chris, as he tried to manoeuvre her to stay upright whilst at the same time getting his keys out and unlocking the door to his apartment.

Managing to get the door open, she fell against the sofa dumped face down, asleep.

He struggled with her shoes and socks, took off her jacket and turned her over to make sure that she didn't vomit and stretching slightly picked her up and carried her into his bedroom.

Making sure that she was sitting up slightly he grabbed a duvet from a cupboard and the waste paper basket which he put by her bed. He pulled a chair out, tucked his own duvet around her and then sat on the chair with the spare duvet from the cupboard wrapped around him.

*****

.

"urgh." Lizzie woke with a groan, her eyes closed, clinging to the last moments of sleep before shifting again and blinking her eyes open.

She took a few more moments to awake fully and sat up looking around, groaning at the taste of cardboard in her mouth and shuddering slightly at the legions of men who were having an angry protest inside her head at the idea of getting up. They were yelling and her headache doubled.

Looking around her, she wasn't sure where she was and was relieved to find out that her clothes were still on. She looked up to see Chris sitting in the far corner, his head tilted to the side; he had fallen asleep.

She tried not to make a noise as she crept out of bed but as she creaked across the floor there was a creaking noise and she turned guiltily towards him where he was smiling.

"So you're awake."

"As are you" she said groaning as her headache seemed to worsen, impossibly she thought as it had seemed moments before as though it couldn't get any worse.

"Headache?" He asked with sympathy.

She nodded and winced and he looked at attempting to hide his smirk.

"I'll make you my sure fire hangover cure. It's this amazing smoothie- work every time. "

She followed him into the kitchen and watched as he started to make it up pulling bananas, oranges and raspberries from the fridge as well as cinnamon. He was putting these into a blender, when she noticed his right hand.

"What happened?" she gestured to his arm.

"Oh nothing major," he shrugged it off.

"Chris?"

"I uh punched uh someone."

"Someone?" she probed.

"Darcy." He ducked his head away from her gaze. She raised her eyebrows and accepted the drink that he handed her but didn't comment on what he had said.

"This is good." She took a sip.

"Yeah, I'll do a fry-up, if you want to have a shower."

"You sure? Thanks."

"No problem. The only thing is I don't think there's any of Clare or Caroline's stuff around, sorry."

"That's fine. I'm not sure I'd feel comfortable about using soap that costs more than my mobile."

After a shower which had allowed enough time for Chris' smoothie to kick in, Lizzie had to admit that she was feeling better. She stood in the doorway and watched as he cooked the bacon, wincing when she saw his hand. Why on earth had he done it? Part of her was flattered that he had done for her. But then she remembered that he had his own bone to pick with Darcy.

******

"So _Chris Bingley_ punched you?

It was now morning and after Will had made them go to bed much to her protests, it was the first question that Georgiana had asked her brother when she had seen him.

"It's nothing Georgy."

She scowled at him. "It's obviously not _nothing_. Why won't you tell me what happened?"

"There was just a bit of a disagreement, that's all."

"You fought with Chris?" she asked incredulously.

Richard padded into the room still in his pyjamas, yawning. "Richard, you'll tell me what's going on, won't you?"

Richard looked at Will curiously wondering whether he should reveal his secret and decided from the glare he received that he should remain quiet.

"It was just a little disagreement, ok? Now, why don't you tell me what you're doing back so early?"

"Term finishes early. Besides I have study leave and then I've got a few final exams and courses to go through."

Georgy had recently been at Yale university but had decided to settle back in England and so had done a transfer to Cambridge which had always been considered the family University given how many generations had gone there.

"Study leave? Since when has Cambridge had that?" he turned to Richard, "Not like in our day, huh?"

He didn't notice the worried expression on his sister's face.

******

"Are you sure you don't want to stay?"

"Chris I'm fine, ok. It's been good, the food was great but I need to be alone, sorry. I'm just so tired and everything."

"Ok. Ring me if you want to." He was still worried about her.

"Thanks, I'll wash your shirt and get it back to you for Monday, ok."

"Don't worry about it."

He watched as she walked out the door and down the stairwell and then remembered the letter. Part of him really didn't want to give it to her but he knew that he had to and so grabbed it and ran after her.

Running at top speed he could just see her in the distance and yelled her name. She turned and waited for him to catch up to her.

"Chris?"

"Lizzie, Darcy wrote you this letter," he handed it to her and she looked at him curiously. "I think you should read it."

"Ok then." She stared at him again wondering what he was going to say, and then looked at the letter and then shoved it in her bag. She wondered if she had actually agreed to reading it, whether or not she would and had Chris read it?

"Just make sure you read it." Chris nodded at her again and then realised that he wasn't wearing shoes and hadn't locked his door, he wasn't even sure he had shut it so gave her a sheepish smile and turned back.

Lizzie watched him go and started to make her way back clutching her bag oddly which now felt strangely heavy. So Darcy had written her a letter? Courtesy demanded that she read it but she wasn't sure when or if. Part of her was desperate to and another part of her wanted to rip it up and throw it down the drain.

Darcy was having trouble with a certain female. However this time it was a different female.

"Georgy what's wrong?"

"Nothing."

He rolled his eyes as he thought back to her behaviour over the past few days. Sighing around the house, watching telly all the time but not complaining or fighting him for the remote if he changed the channel to Top Gear or any other show that she hated. Not making any plans, not phoning friends or being on the internet for all hours of the day the list went on and on.

"Georgy I know you well enough to know that something's wrong. Why won't you tell me?"

"There's nothing wrong. Seriously, you haven't even told me the full story of Chris punching you yet you automatically assume there's something wrong with me."

He nodded knowing she was right.

"I'm sorry I have to go into work today but we'll go to the exhibition tomorrow, ok?" he was annoyed that he had to bail on their plans that he had forced her to make again.

"Sure, as long as you can get the time off," she muttered, moodily and Will knew what he had to do.

He walked out of his flat on his way to work and rang his assistant.

"Hello, Sarah?"

"I need you to cancel everything for me this week. Postpone anything important, cancel everything else. I need to make sure that I have a completely schedule."

"Uh are you sure Mr Darcy. You do have a meeting with Mr Strachan booked."

"Cancel it. I don't want to be contacted."

"Ok Mr Darcy," she was cursing him for all the work that she now had to do.

He stepped into a taxi knowing that he couldn't just call Chris Bingley but would have to see him in person.

The taxi pulled up outside the building and he signed in, the security guard recognising him so he didn't need to be signed in. He wasn't sure if Lizzie was still working there or where her office was and so when the lift opened he crept surreptitiously to where he knew Chris' office was.

"Darcy?" Chris looked up in surprise when he walked in without knocking.

He held his hands up as a sign of peace.

"I'm here to apologise."

"You're here to apologise to me?" Chris had known that one day, eventually he would have to apologise to Darcy for hitting him but he hadn't expected Darcy to show up in his office. At the time it had seemed the only thing to do but he was aware that he had been rather caught up in the moment.

"Yes. I presume you read the letter that I wrote for Elizabeth?" It wasn't an accusation.

Chris nodded.

"Well yes, so you know that I knew about the company? I have to say that I'm sorry that I didn't inform you of what I was going to do and if there were any ramifications I will release a public statement saying that I was wrong." Darcy fidgeted. He knew that he had done wrong and wanted to try to make it right.

"It didn't really cause any ramifications." Chris shrugged it off.

"No, I still need to apologise. I wasn't sure what to do but I hope that these," he pulled out a box, "Will help."

Chris opened them and saw a pair of very fine silver cufflinks.

"Darcy, you didn't need to do that."

"I did," Darcy was blushing. "And I'd like to buy you a drink so that we can talk."

"Right you can buy me a drink but I'm not accepting these," he pushed the box back.

"Are you sure?"

"Yes, absolutely. I'm a little busy now," he said not rudely but pointing out a statement.

Darcy looked a little sheepish realising he had just barged in.

"But we should meet up later, tonight. I had a feeling that there was something else you wanted to talk to me about?"

Darcy nodded.

Chris looked up at him properly for the first time, "Sorry about your eye."

"I deserved it."

Chris certainly wasn't going to disagree with that given what he had done to Elizabeth but in a way he was extremely grateful that Darcy had made sure that he hadn't got that job even though he hadn't approved of the methods.

"Yeah, maybe But I'm still sorry. Oh and for what it's worth you can tell Gigi that I was drunk and that it was an accident."

Will smiled slightly at the way Chris understood his sister and left the office with plans to meet up later. He felt a bit less coward like but still didn't feel as good about himself as he wanted so he bought a Big Issue from a man at the corner and then walked into the bank to sort out some other arrangements.

Chris began to work again with a small smile on his face. Most people would probably not have forgiven Darcy but Chris knew how proud a man he was and how difficult he would have found that apology. He also knew how loyal he was to his friends; if he had promised his friend who worked in Scotland Yard that he wouldn't reveal the truth then he wouldn't. He had apologised and he had been looking out for Chris, in his own slightly warped controlling way. And, looking at the box that was left on the table, there were _very nice_ cufflinks.

He had them in his pockets as he went to the pub. Lizzie had called him but he had been evasive in his answers when she had asked him his plans for the evening.

"Darcy."

"Chris, hey sit down," Will pulled out a chair.

"Thanks."

There was an awkward pause between the two men.

"So."

"So."

"Here are the cufflinks back."

"Chris keep them."

"I can't."

"Yes you can. Think of them as apology cufflinks or thank you cufflinks for looking after Georgy or..."

"Looking after Elizabeth?"

Darcy looked at him in surprise.

"Yeah I guess," Will said quietly. "Did she get very drunk?" he asked even more quietly, not really wanting to know the answer.

"Reasonably so, she's probably been worse." He added to comfort Darcy. "Are you in love with her?" Chris thought that he knew the answer but knew that he had to ask anyway.

"Are you?" Darcy shot back.

"Yes."

Darcy was surprised at Chris' frank answer and wondered what type of love Chris was talking about. He hoped it was platonic love but he was unsure.

"It's hard not to be, isn't it?" Darcy asked.

"Oh yeah," Chris muttered under his breath and Darcy was thinking the same thoughts.

Darcy knew that he couldn't ask what exactly Chris meant but instead asked, "Did she get my letter?"

He knew that Chris wouldn't have done anything like that but he knew that several people would have not given it to her.

"Yep but it was a close call."

"Ok then."

They drank their drinks in silence both of them thinking about a certain brunette with sparkling eyes.

"Did you want my help with something?" Chris asked.

"Yes, well I mean I know you would tell me if there was anything, I mean you always have in the past but I know that there's something weird and I couldn't really blame you if you hadn't told me and I know that I have every reason to trust you and I know you couldn't trust me but something's wrong and I need to know if you know anything."

"Darcy, what the hell are you trying to say?"

"Something's wrong with Georgiana and she won't tell me what."

Chris would have chuckled at Darcy's panicked state if it were not for the seriousness of the situation.

"I know."

"You know?" Darcy was surprised, he was sure that Chris would have told him.

"I mean I don't know what it is but she's seemed really strange in her emails. Is that what you picked up on?"

"No, it's her behaviour; she just seems to be moping."

"You've seen her? I thought she was so wrapped up at Cambridge, did she fly to New York?"

"No, she was in the apartment. It's quite a drive for her, midweek I was thinking but apparently she's on study leave."

"Study leave?" Chris seemed dubious.

"I know. I was certain that Cambridge didn't do study leave but I guess things change....."

"Darcy, I don't think that it does." There was a pause, "Maybe you should try to contact them and find out?"

"I can't do that; it would mean snooping on her."

"Snooping?" It surprised Chris that Darcy was that concerned with his morals but only when it came to his sister. "Darcy that's basically your job as her guardian. If there's something wrong you should find out. There's only so much I can do, you need to get her to open up.

"You really think that I can go behind her back and find out about her?"

"Darcy you don't need my permission. You love her more than any brother has in the world and you want what's best for her and I think that you should go with your instincts."

"Ok then," he still didn't sound that happy.

The next morning Will knew what he was going to do. He was sitting at the kitchen table peeling a banana when Georgy walked in holding her handbag searching for her purse.

"Where are you going?"

"Shopping. I really need new jeans."

"Can't it wait?"

"Not really, I want to hit the shops before it gets busy."

"Well I'm sorry, Georgy but I'm afraid it's going to have to wait."

She raised her eyebrows surprised that he was pulling out his bossy big brother card that meant that she had to do what he said but sat down anyone. He walked to the freezer and pulled out ice cream.

"Will it's not even ten o'clock. Isn't it a bit early for ice cream?"

"Not really," he shrugged nonchalantly. "So what's going on with you?"

"What's going on with me? You're eating ice cream before ten o'clock with a black eye and you're questioning me?"

"Yes but I'm not the one whose avoided everyone, recently. Richard's going back to New York soon; you haven't spent any time with him."

"I've been busy."

"But you haven't Georgy. You've just been moping around. I know there's something wrong."

She said nothing.

"Is is...." he paused tentatively. "Is it a boy?"

"No." She couldn't believe that he was talking to her about this. "Seriously there's nothing to worry about, don't worry. Can I go now?"

He nodded knowing he hadn't got anywhere.

Georgiana walked out the front door and then leaned against it, shaking slightly. Pulling her mobile out she rang a friend to meet for lunch.

She entered the Greek bistro and saw Chris Bingley sitting at a table by the window with someone else. Someone else who happened to be a very pretty brunette.

"Chris?" she asked hesitantly feeling a weird anxious feeling almost as though she were jealous.

"Gigi, hey," he bounded up and hugged her, "How are you? You look good. Oh sorry, this is my friend Elizabeth," he gestured to the woman, "Elizabeth Gigi, Gigi, Elizabeth," He introduced the two.

Georgiana sat down a little unsure. She had wanted to spend some alone time with Chris.

They all sat around the table in relative silence, deciding quickly what they wanted. They had just ordered when Chris' phone rang.

He picked it up and began talking quickly.

"Hello?"

"What?"

"What do you mean everything?"

"Right I'll be there right away."

He hung up the phone and Lizzie gave him a curious look.

"The whole server's crashed on the main computer. We've lost everything."

"What?"

"Yeah apparently it's chaos there. I have to go."

"Do you need me to come too?" she was already grabbing her jacket.

"No it's fine," he gave her a strange look and gestured to Georgiana. "I'll have to go though." He kissed them both on the cheek and ran out of the room.

There was another awkward pause between the two women.

"So."

"Yeah, weird."

"Yep."

"Still we've ordered the food now, might as well stay. We can think of it like a blind date."

"You're not ...." Georgiana paused not knowing what to say wondering what the other woman was thinking.

"No," Lizzie said with a laugh.

"So how do you know Chris?"

"Oh I work with him and I guess you could say we're close friends. What about you?" she paused suddenly looking at the woman and then gasped, "Wait a second you're Georgy! Darcy's sister." She paused anxiously.

Georgiana blushed. "Yeah I am. So you know my brother, then," she paused in a similar way that Elizabeth had. "You're that Elizabeth. The one whose window Chris climbed in."

"Yeah," she laughed but was wondering what her brother had told Georgiana about her.

The eyed each other, each running through the list of things that they had been told about the other woman and both started to form opinions not only on the other but on those who had mentioned the other to themselves.

"I have to say I thought you were known as Georgy."

"Yeah well I guess I'll always be Georgy to him but I wanted to try out something new. Something I guess that's more grown up and less masculine."

"So Gigi?"

"Yeah," she pulled a face, "I'm not sure it works though. I always think of the musical."

"It's nice." Lizzie herself had gone through many different options before choosing Lizzie; Beth, Liz, Elle.

"Sure," she said sarcastically and then faltered. "I just couldn't think of anything else and I needed a change." She was surprised at just how easily she could talk to Elizabeth.

"Gina, Giana, G, Anna, Ana, Georgia?"

There was another pause as she considered the list. "I like Giana. I'd not thought about that."

"So you live in New York, then?"

"No, who told you that?" Georgy who had now decided officially to be called Giana frowned at Lizzie.

"I think your brother or Chris might have mentioned it," she quickly mentioned Chris in case Giana thought that she was closer with Darcy than she actually was.

"Oh, yeah well I was. I was at Yale University but I've transferred."

"Oh where to?"

"Uh Cambridge."

"Oh yes, are you liking it?"

"Yeah." Lizzie noticed that Giana was not exactly enthusiastic.

"Pressure getting to you?" she asked sympathetically tipping her head.

"What!" Giana snapped her head up but was stopped from discussing this further as the waiter brought the food.

Neither women started to eat their food but looked at each other. Giana couldn't help but notice just how penetrating Lizzie's gaze was. Looking away she started to pick at her duck salad.

"I went to Cambridge, I nearly dropped out in my second year" Lizzie said frankly.

Giana frowned at her waiting for her to continue.

"I hated the pressure. The way that there was no help unless you were doing appallingly badly or were top of the class, and it was so difficult to be top of the class. I hated the fact that I had killed myself to get into there and didn't enjoy it and that no one seemed to understand the way that I was feeling."

Giana was gaping.

"It's just there's so much expectation on me, my family have been going there for generations and I can't be the one to break tradition." Giana spoke quietly and softly amazed to meet someone who understood the way she was feeling.

"I mean Will went there after our parents died and he coped fine so I can't be the one not to."

"Giana, you're not your brother and no one should expect you to be the same as him."

Giana attempted a weak smile and then took a mouthful of lettuce.

"Have you told him how you feel?"

Giana who had now reversed into quite unsure of herself Georgy shook her head.

"I can't."

Lizzie frowned knowing it would be so typical of Darcy to behave like that. He was made out to be this great big brother but really, looking at the young girl opposite her it didn't seem that way.

"I'm sure he'd understand." Lizzie didn't really believe that but it was the most appropriate thing to say in this situation.

"I know he would," Giana said in a small voice, "but I can't let him down."

Lizzie was surprised but shuffled her eyebrows down so as not to let her companion know. Yes, of all the people that had flattered Darcy, Caroline, Chris, Charlie, his Aunt and his cousin it seemed that his sister was the most interesting when it came to finding out the man.

**This chapter may not flow brilliantly, sorry and is going in a different direction than I had intended. **

**Thanks so much to everyone who has reviewed. I love getting them , the really help me with ideas. **


	15. Making out with Darcy

Don't own. Sorry for mistakes. Thank you so much to everyone who has reviewed. They make me so happy!

**Making out **_**with **_**Darcy**

Lizzie smiled as she leant back against the wall pulling Darcy with her, giggling softly as he leant in closer to kiss her neck. He pulled her closer to him and she rang her fingers through his thick brown hair which looked so attractive on him. He kissed her neck again and worked his way up it with dozens of light fluttering kisses, reaching her ear where he whispered,

"I love you so much, Elizabeth."

She responded by kissing him passionately on the mouth.

He pulled her away slightly so that he could look at her properly.

"There's no one like you, Lizzie."

"Lizzie."

"Lizzie."

She turned slightly, 'why was Darcy poking her shoulder?' wait a second, why was Darcy there at all? She sat up suddenly and turned jumping slightly when she saw Giana sitting next to her.

"Are you ok? I think you feel asleep."

Mortified she sat up and tried to remember what had happened.

"_So it was really nice having lunch with you." Lizzie said to Giana as they finished lunch._

"_Yeah." There was a pause where she fumbled nervously, "Lizzie would you like to come shopping with me? Or we could catch a film."_

_Lizzie paused and looked at her watch, "I really should be getting back to work," she saw the girls face fall, "But I'll try to see what I can do. Maybe I can reshuffle some things."_

_She pulled out her phone and called her immediate line manager who was actually Chris._

"_Hey Chris, how are things down there?" she asked nervously knowing that if the whole server had crashed then he was likely to be in a foul mood._

"_Fine," he answered serenely._

"_Do you need me back right away? I was just wondering if I could have the afternoon off?"_

"_No no, go on," Chris smiled to himself pleased that his plan had worked as in actual fact there had been no server that had crashed no one was running around crazy, the office was completely dead; he didn't need Lizzie there at all. "Have a good time with Gigi."_

"_How did you know?"_

_He just laughed and hung up._

_She turned back to Giana and shut her mobile and said, "Right that's all settled, where do you want to go?"_

_Giana who had been looking at a poster on a bus stop on the opposite side of the road whilst Lizzie had been on the phone had decided on going to the cinema._

It was here that Lizzie, in the warm relaxing environment with chairs that tipped very far back had fallen asleep.

She knew that she had been tired lately but why on earth would she be dreaming of Darcy? Gingerly she put her hand to her mouth and felt her lips and then realised that she was obviously tired and had been under a lot of stress. Now, she realised that she really wanted to read that letter. That letter which was currently shoved in a casserole dish that an elderly aunt had given her and that she had never used which was stuffed in the bottom of her kitchen cupboard.

The two women stood up and walked out of the cinema which had emptied quickly and walked into the fresh air blinking slightly at the sunlight. Lizzie offered Giana her excuse about tiredness and they talked about the film for a while, Giana talking about lots of scenes that Lizzie couldn't remember at all which made her wonder how long she had been asleep.

Giana reached in her bag and pulled her phone out; she was aware that she hadn't told her brother how long she would be and she had been several hours already, longer than she had intended. As she turned her phone on she was unsurprised that there were two missed calls from her brother.

She clicked speed dial one and rang the number that flashed up.

"Georgy," Will's voice sounded relieved and she knew that he had been worrying. She knew that this was not the time to mention that she wanted to be called Giana as Will would always see her as his baby sister, Georgy who he would have to worry about.

"Will."

"Where have you been? You left hours ago. Not even you can shop that long." He was trying to not demand where she had been.

"Oh I went for lunch with Chris and then ran into..... someone else and then went to see a film," she was about to say Elizabeth Bennet but had seen the panicked look that Lizzie had sent her when she realised who she was talking to and avoided saying her name.

"Oh, anyone I know?" Will was relieved that Georgy seemed to have met up with a friend.

"Uh I don't think so," she spoke awkwardly wondering what was going on with Lizzie who was growing more and more flushed.

"Do you want me to come and meet you? We can walk back together."

"Are you sure you don't have to work?"

Will looked back down at the numbers before him. He knew that he should get back to them; the numbers for the new drug that Darcy Pharmaceuticals had developed weren't as good as they had hoped for. He knew that hospitals wanted to buy the drug yet they weren't offering anything near the region he had been expecting so he would just have to wait it out a little longer until they came to terms with the demands.

He sighed as after pressing the equals button on his calculating, checking over the work on the spreadsheet in front of him and managed to get 1.345 x 10 to the minus 6.

"It can wait. There's nothing that important that I have to do." That was a lie but Will knew his sister was more important. Anyway he could always pull an all nighter, he hadn't done that in years but maybe it would give him an adrenaline rush.

"No there's nothing of any importance that I need to do. Which Cinema did you go to?"

She told him where he was and hung up the phone. Lizzie was rifling through her bag intently, looking for something but Giana wasn't sure what. Her face was flushed red.

"Lizzie are you ok?"

"I'm fine. I uh have to go. Your brother is meeting up with you right?" Lizzie was working very hard to keep the tone of her voice normal and was not succeeding very well.

Giana noticed this, "Are you ok?"

"I'm fine, really I'm just tired and I have a headache."

"Are you sure?" Was Lizzie somehow linked to her brother? Giana was determined to find out.

"Yeah. It was really great to have lunch with you; maybe we should do it again some time?"

"That would be nice." Giana smiled shyly.

"And if you want to talk about the Cambridge thing or you know just ask. Chris has my email."

To her surprise, Giana leaned in and hugged her whispering in her ear, "Thank you."

She leaned back. "I'm going to tell Will, I definitely will, I just couldn't bring myself to it but it's really helped to have someone else who knows about it."

"Just take your time, it'll be ok."

"He's coming over to walk with me in a minute, I'll tell him then. At least that well I won't have to see his disappointed look."

"I'm sure he won't be disappointed, Giana."

The younger woman shrugged, unsure as to whether she agreed with Lizzie. Even if Will was fine with it she still felt as though she had let him down.

Lizzie glanced at her watch, it had been a while since Giana had made that call which meant that right now Darcy was walking this way. She didn't want to risk seeing him and so said goodbye to Giana.

Will meanwhile realised that Georgy sounded as though she was in the mood to talk to him about what had been bothering her lately and so was hurrying so that he could get there in time before she changed her mind.

Rushing down a busy street, he turned his head suddenly when he saw a flash of brunette hair. His heart leaped it was _her._ He was sure of it. Part of him wanted to stop and make sure but another part of him knew that it couldn't possibly be her, logic said so. London was a very big place.

But maybe it was her? It _was _possible. He groaned out loud. Why had that bus moved at that time to allow the sunlight to catch her hair? Hundreds no thousands of woman had brown her and it couldn't be her.

In actual fact, it wasn't her. London wasn't that small. No Lizzie was actually still talking to Giana who had a last minute panic about what to tell her brother. Lizzie, wanted to help her the girl knowing that when she was going through her similar academic crisis she wished that she had someone to help her but she also needed to make sure that she didn't run into Darcy so had spoken quickly.

She just managed to get away, when she turned her head back she saw Darcy approach his sister and hug her. Their eyes locked for the briefest of seconds and then he turned away blinking, he knew it couldn't actually be _her._ He had checked his watch and it didn't matter how late her lunch break was there was no way that she was still on it. His eyes caught another brunette in the crowd but it still wasn't her.

Suddenly he was surrounded by images of her. The number of brunettes of average height and weight seemed to have doubled in minutes. _She_ was hailing a taxi. No, _She _was sitting on the top deck of a double decker bus. No, he corrected himself again, _she _was on the side of the bus advertising a new film with a smiling white teethed man. He blinked and rubbed his eyes.

He turned back to his sister knowing that Georgy, blonde sweet petite Georgy who was most importantly his sibling, could never be mistaken for Elizabeth.

"Hey."

"Hi," she was nervous. He knew this. She knew that he knew that.

"So why don't we take the walk through the park, that'll be nicer. You're not in any hurry, are you?" Will was doing his best to try to make out that he was completely casual but the attempt was not brilliant.

"No."

"Good."

They walked in silence which whilst not exactly awkward was not comfortable.

"Will I have to tell you something," Giana began.

Mentally Will braced himself for what was going to come. He took a breath in knowing that he could deal with whatever happened, he just hoped it wasn't too bad.

"I'm not on study leave from Cambridge. I uh well I," she started to stare intently at a young boy on his bike in the park, "I'm not doing so well at school. Um I uh spoke to a counsellor and she said,well she thinks that I should take a little time off," Giana felt her cheeks burn.

To her surprise Will grabbed her shoulders and kissed her on the head. He let out a sigh of relief. Giana just stared at him.

"I I, uh I thought that you would be mad," she said uncertainly.

"No Georgy, I'm not mad, I couldn't possibly be mad with you."

He was still wrapping his head around it. He had been so worried about her. All sorts of things had gone through his mind, rape, an attack, something illegal. He was so relieved. He would have been able to deal with all of that but this seemed easier.

"But its Cambridge," her voice was small and she wasn't looking at him but he noticed tears were pricking her eyes. "The whole family's gone there. I'm have to go there."

He led her over to a bench and they sat down.

He turned to her. "Georgy are you healthy?"

"Yes," she paused wondering where he was going with this.

"And are you happy at Cambridge? Because at the moment it seems like you're not."

"Um no, I don't think so." She hated having to admit what felt like a weakness to him.

"Well those are the two things that I care about, ok?" he looked at her earnestly. "The rest absolutely does not matter. You understand. If you ever feel unhappy or anything ever you tell me, ok? It doesn't matter what it is you just need to tell me."

She nodded, wiping her eyes.

"So you're not happy at Cambridge?" he needed to assess the situation.

"I don't know Will, it's just so hard and because I transferred everyone's already got all these friends and they know the professors and I don't fit in at all and I can't keep up with the work," she was crying again and gave a watery laugh. "God I sound so pathetic, like I'm in high school."

"You're not pathetic," he put his arm around her, "Georgy Peorgy you've never been ridiculous and there's no way that you have to go to school there if you don't want to. It's not like you're six anymore and it's illegal for you to stay home."

"Mmm" she made a small noise but he wasn't sure that she was agreeing with him.

"Need to wipe your nose and eyes on my shirt?" he offered her his sleeve. She pushed it away.

"Will, I'm not that pathetic." She pulled a tissue out of her bag and carefully wiped her eyes so that her makeup was not ruined. He smiled at that way that she acted, it reminded of his mother with the way that she was so composed but it also reminded him of a certain brunette who also never seemed to let anything faze her.

"No, so what do you want to do about school? Because the company really won't require any qualifications if you wanted to work there, it's all experience that's needed anyway. Not that you have to work there anyway," he added hastily. "I'll support you in whatever you decide to do. Well," he paused for a moment and there was slight apprehension on her face, "unless you decide you want to go to Oxford."

She laughed at the idea of going to the age old rival of Cambridge.

"I uh don't think I'm ready for the company. I think that maybe leaving Cambridge is the right option," she hung her head in shame.

"That's completely fine." Will wasn't sure that he wanted his little sister in an office when she was so young. He knew that he had been just a little bit older than her but it wasn't like he had been given much of a choice. Noticing that she still didn't look happy he gave her a goofy cheesy smile that he knew would make her laugh. She did. "Is there anywhere else that you would like to go?"

"I don't know," she was analyzing her life plans and suddenly realised that she had no idea of what she wanted to do with her life.

"Well we can go home and look at the options, with lots of ice cream and chocolate sauce of course. You don't have to go anywhere straight away. I like it when you're around. You could always start somewhere new in September. Is Yale out of the picture?" He hoped it was. He couldn't stand the thought of Georgy being so far away from him and knew that he would eventually move to the states if she was there but overall he preferred England.

"Yeah I'd much rather be in England."

"Right." he stood up and she followed him. They were both glad that they had got everything out in the open but had in a way reached an unspoken agreement to not discuss the issue anymore with each other but just enjoy their rare time spent together.

Lizzie got into her flat and sank against the door wondering why on earth she felt as though she was about to burst into tears. Her stomach was still hurting but she definitely knew that her period wasn't due.

It was strange remembering those feelings that she had felt at Cambridge and seeing someone else go through the same things. She had been so stressed it was unbelievable. She never seemed to have a boyfriend and yet all her friends seemed to, always. She always had more work to do, never had any time and was so worried. Worried about Jane, worried that she wasn't going to make her rent, fail her course just everything.

And then her book had been published. It wasn't as if all her worries had gone away after that but life had become so much easier. She had money to pay for things, more time on her hand and her professors looked at her in a new light. She dropped one of the classes she was taking and managed to enjoy her final year.

Thinking about this made her think of Giana which instantly made her think of Darcy. She knew that she had to read the letter that he had written her.

Picking it up from the cupboard, she read the letter. She stood up and poured herself a glance of wine and read the letter. She ran a bath, pulled out some chocolate, stepped in wincing slightly and read the letter.

She dropped the letter to the side and started to cry. It wasn't about Darcy; it was just that therapeutic urge that she needed to feel good. It was strange she thought, the way that woman worked in that she always felt better after crying.

She was starting to realise that the way Darcy had spoken to her hadn't been all bad. Sure, he had insulted her but there was something very complimentary about the mad, insane jealousy that he had spoken of. She had inspired those feelings in him and that was weird as she had always thought that she had no effect over him whatsoever.

It wasn't until later, much later that she would realise how wrong she had been in this statement.

**Sorry it's a little short and not a lot happened. This was actually a part of the last chapter, slightly. It just worked better on it's own. **

**Please Review I would love ideas/ suggestions. **


	16. Hazy days of summer

"Jane!"

"Lizzie!"

The two women ran and hugged each other, just like the majority of the other people around them were doing at Gatwick airport. It was five o'clock in the evening and after a slight delay Jane's flight direct from John. F. Kennedy Airport had arrived without hitch.

The sisters leaned back and looked at each other. It had been six months since they had seen each other and both were scanning their eyes across noticing the changes. They had emailed regularly and talked on the phone sporadically, with each looking at photos that had been uploaded on facebook and in emails but that still didn't show everything.

Jane, in Lizzie's opinion looked great. America had definitely agreed with her. Her hair had been cut in a very stylish younger look with a full, heavy fringe that really suited her. She seemed to be wearing new jewellery, definitely items that Lizzie hadn't seen before and the way that her make-up was done seemed different, emphasising her eyes and she had new, more fashionable clothes.

Jane had always been more relaxed in her appearance, always looking very sweet and adorable but never trying anything dramatic. She now looked more glamorous and daring than she had before. Lizzie could only hope that this was the case and that now she could only hope that this new improved Jane would be happier and would not let a certain Charles Bingley bother her.

Jane's opinion of Lizzie wasn't quite so complimentary. She had lost weight and seemed tired with large bags under her eyes. The way she was standing wearing the casual jeans and hoody with no makeup or jewellery and her recent emails that Jane had been looking over on the flight back suggested that she was generally fed up with life. When she had spoken her voice had sounded rough as though she'd had a throat infection recently that hadn't quite gone away.

"How are you? How was the flight? How was New York? What did you see?" Lizzie was talking very quickly in a very excited fashion talking in a way that only those who were close to her could understand.

"Yeah it was great. No, don't take both my suitcases, let me," Jane took one of her cases as Lizzie struggled with both. Watching her sister carefully Jane made sure she picked up the heavier case.

"So come on tell me how it was?" they had reached the car and were loading the cases into the boot.

"It was good, really good actually. The company was so different and I mean it was really strange at first but it was also really great. Everyone was so friendly. And New York's amazing, Lizzie," Jane wondered briefly if she was being insensitive given the trip that Lizzie had cancelled all those years ago.

"Great," she smiled at her big sister. "How are Andrea and James?"

They're good, yeah they were supposed to be flying back with me but there was some issue with James' company so they'll be here in a couple of weeks."

"Great." Lizzie was excited to see her Aunt and Uncle as it would mean that she would soon be travelling with them.

Jane was talking nonstop as they drove back home, which was rare as she had always been the quieter sister. Lizzie was glad to see how excited she was and once they had taken Jane's suitcases upstairs and she'd had a showered the two went out for a celebratory dinner.

"So how are you?" Lizzie looked at her sister scrutinising her across the candlelit table. "I mean you look great, really great. Are you seeing anyone, right now?" she paused and realised seconds after she had said that whether or not it was the right thing to ask. The name Charlie Bingley paused on her lips, almost dripping out. She could practically see the letters hung in the air between her and Jane.

Jane gave a small laugh that Lizzie was sure she wouldn't have done six months ago. "Lizzie, if you're wondering about Charlie and 'how I am'" she made quotation marks with her fingers, "Then you needn't worry, I'm fine. Really I don't think about him at all, I'm completely over it. It wasn't meant to be, obviously. "She shrugged her shoulders.

Lizzie had to wonder if her sister had rehearsed that line. It certainly seemed that way. Looking at her sister she realised that line wouldn't have worked nearly as well had she not had her new haircut.

"So are you dating anyone?"

Jane shook her head, "No I've just been so busy. Besides, there was no point in dating really, if I was just going to come back to England in six months anyway."

"So you're definitely back for good, then?" Lizzie asked with a small smile, hopeful that the answer was yes. "You still could have dated someone though; it's not like it had to be anything serious."

She shook her head, dismissing the idea. "Yes, I liked the states and everything but I miss home. So who have you been dating, then?" Jane gave her an impish smile in an unnerving way that seemed to have come with her new confidence. It was probably because Lizzie had recently emailed her about this date she had gone on with a guy who had asked her out at her local coffee shop.

"No one, Jane, I think you know that."

"But what about this guy, Alex, Aaron?"

"Andrew. Yeah we went on one date but it didn't work out."

"Oh. Why not?"

"Oh I don't know, there just wasn't anything special about him."

"So you're looking for something serious then?" Jane had to wonder about her sister who had just told her that she should have casually dated someone only to have done the complete opposite herself.

"No, uh hm Yes, maybe I don't know."

Lizzie was unsure and indecisive. She was still so young, young enough to go out and just have some fun. Yet, all she had thought whilst she had been on that date was that this guy was so clearly not the one who she was going to be with, the guy that she would one day end up marrying. She knew it was ridiculous to be thinking like that on a first date especially when she was twenty three but she just couldn't help it.

She had sat there on the date, comparing Andrew, who after all was very nice, to all the other men she knew; some of which included Chris, Charlie, Richard and Darcy. She could honestly say that she would rather be sitting there with anyone of those. Even Charlie who had broken her sister's heart or Richard who she barely knew or Darcy. He may have been proud and rude and would probably have not taken her to Pizza Express but to some ridiculously fancy restaurant that made her feel incredibly self conscious but at least the man had depth and levels and they could talk.

"He just wasn't right for me. We didn't click. " Lizzie said with nonchalance and took a sip of wine.

Jane nodded and decided not to probe her sister any further but merely enjoy her company after such a long time apart.

******

Over the next two weeks Jane, who was not working -she hadn't reapplied for her old job even though they had claimed that the door was always open for her but instead had chosen to consider her options- began to watch her sister.

Lizzie was not well. Jane knew that there was something wrong with her but she had no idea _what _it actually was. She knew that there was something wrong emotionally but she was wondering about physically.

Chris seemed to be always busy; she wasn't sure if he was avoiding her but they definitely weren't hanging out as much. Jane wondered if there had been an argument between the two but Lizzie hadn't mentioned it and she didn't think that answer was likely.

Then there was the way Lizzie was acting. She seemed to be so tired, always had a headache and complained of having trouble sleeping. She had a very sore throat yet she hadn't gone out drinking heavily with friends recently. She hadn't done anything recently. All she seemed to be doing was working. Jane knew she would have to talk to her about it.

"Lizzie," she was waiting for her sister in her flat with a pot of chilli on the stove even though the weather was too hot to be eating that sort of food. "Are you sure you're ok?"

"Yes," Lizzie asked her surprised; Jane seemed to have been asking this a lot recently. "Why wouldn't I be?"

"I don't know, it just seems that you seem to have been ill a lot recently and I'm worried about you. Maybe you should go to the doctors."

"I really don't think there's no need for that." Lizzie began to cough as she had just taken a mouthful of the chilli that was still in the pot on the gas ring.

"Lizzie, in January I fainted once and you made me go to the doctors. You seem to be worse than I was so why won't you just go and have a quick blood test or something."

"Bah! Needles!" she shook her head like a young child. "Anyway you were the one who was always ill, not me. I really don't think there's anything wrong with me. There have been a lot of summer bugs around."

"Why don't you just go and see what they say," Jane gave her that deep pleading look which Lizzie knew she had never been able to say no to.

"Fine ok." The next morning she had made herself an appointment after waking up in a pool of her own sweat at three am; her only thought was that Jane could be right.

*****

It was a further two weeks later when Lizzie came in absolutely exhausted from another days work; she gave another squeal of excitement similar to the one that she had given when she had seen Jane at the airport. This was because she had spotted Andrea and James through the window as she climbed the stairs to her flat.

"Andrea!"

"Lizzie, how are you?" the two women hugged and started gushing on at each other in a high pitched stream of excitement.

James gave Jane an amused smile as they stood back watching the two women. "Don't I get a hello then?"

"Uncle James," she turned to him and hugged him.

"Lizzie, you're mail came." Jane had been looking for this particular letter since Lizzie's doctor's appointment.

Lizzie saw the worry in Jane's eye. She opened the letter and scanned the contest.

"I'm fine."

She watched as not only Jane but Andrea and James let out a sigh of relief. Trying to make light of the situation she joked. "Honestly there was no reason to worry so much."

Had she not be secretly relieved herself and reading the letter she would have caught the look Jane gave Andrea. It connected back to the conversation that the two had had earlier before Lizzie had got in from work.

"_So are you glad to be back?" Andrea looked at her niece._

"_Oh yes, definitely," Jane blushed realising what she had said so added hastily, "Not that I didn't love New York. I did. I had a great time with you, it's just..."_

"_There's no place like home," Andrea finished off pulling a very Judy Garland style voice._

"_Yes," Jane agreed. "you know when you're away?" she fiddled with her fingers, "Do you think, that..."_

"_That?" _

"_you could look out for Lizzie. I mean I know she's not a child and it's not like she's needs looking after or anything it's just..."_

"_You're worried about her?"_

"_Yes. She doesn't seem right to me."_

"_Ok, sweetie don't worry." They hugged. Andrea frowning slightly, worried about what could be wrong with Lizzie to make Jane worry so much._

Lizzie smiled to herself, relieved that she was healthy but also that she could prove her sister wrong. It was an old stubborn competitive trait she had always had.

Tonight was going to be a nice, relaxing night for her. Her Aunt and Uncle were staying in a hotel; Jane was going out and catching up with some old friends and so Lizzie had the night to herself. She was looking forward to it.

She watched an ER episode and then checked her email. A smile crept up on her face when she saw that she had messages in her inbox. She had, over recent years become somewhat of an email addict and loved getting messages. Three turned out to be spam, one an invite to a surprise birthday party of a friend from Uni and one from Giana Darcy.

She had been emailing the youngest Darcy for quite awhile now and she was enjoying the conversations. They weren't deep and meaningful; she hadn't even told her how well she knew her brother or what had happened between the two of them but it was a nice sort of companionship. They swapped jokes and anecdotes occasionally and it was nice to have somewhere there who she could just bitch to about her day.

Just as she was about to shut down her email a new message flashed up from Chris, finalising her plans for work. She had decided given the amount of time that she would be off for the only thing that she could do logically was quit given that she was going travelling with her Aunt and Uncle and then Chris for several months.

Thinking about Chris and their plans, Lizzie couldn't help but feel another little thrill of excitement at the thought of going away. There was only one week of work left.....

******

Unsurprisingly the last week of work did not go quickly for Lizzie. She had trouble finding a decent bikini but did manage to pick up a few other summer things like a few dresses. Andrea and James had spent the week in London visiting their old friends as the majority of them lived in London.

"So you all packed then?" Chris was helping her take her things to the car as she had said goodbye to everyone from her final day of work.

"Yeah pretty much, I mean we leave Sunday so I'm not totally organised but there's only a few things that need sorting."

"You're leaving Sunday and you're packed, already?" Chris asked incredulously. "If it was me I probably would pack Sunday morning."

Lizzie smiled. "Well you better be more organised when we go travelling."

"Nah, that's what stresses you out. I'm much more laid back."

"You're going to have to change when we go off together; I'm not missing any flights because of you." She said this in a jokey, yet stern sort of way smiling at the thought of going off on her own proper adventure. She was looking forward to this trip with her Aunt and Uncle but couldn't wait until she was going off to new places, new places with experiences she had never had.

Sunday morning and the time for leaving was far too early in Lizzie's opinion but Andrea had wanted to make an early start. She was completely packed and had managed to, in her opinion keep it relatively light. They would be driving to the south of France so it wasn't like there was a weight limit as there would have been if they had flown.

The drive was just as tiring and as boring as she had been expecting. They all took turns driving so it wasn't as though they had to stop to rest for the night.

****

France had always been the place that Lizzie had come on holiday when they had left it too late to book anywhere else and she had always had mixed feelings about the country. However after being there for a couple of weeks with Andrea and James she loved the place. They had been fairly relaxed, seen a few friends that James knew through work out there and seen some of the palaces and chateaus.

They were sitting out, one morning eating croissants, pain au chocolat and drinking hot chocolate out of the bowl, something Lizzie loved when they started planning what they would do when they returned to England in a week.

"So I was thinking," James was sitting there with a map out, Andrea rolled her eyes at the fixed way that he was starring at the map, turning it left and right in confusion as he tried to see a route. "That we should try to do things logically when we get back to England."

"Logically?" Andrea raised an eyebrow.

"Well there's no sense in just going anywhere we feel like. We need to have some sort of system otherwise we'll just be crossing our tracks constantly and we might not get to see everything."

Lizzie and Andrea looked at each other, "Nah," they both said.

"First stops Derbyshire!" the elder said in an excited voice.

"But that doesn't make sense" James was pointing at the map. "We really ought to start along the coast, go down to Cornwall and then maybe Wales. We could work our way up to Scotland, hitting the major cities and then back down the middle and then, Derbyshire back to London and then York and Norfolk sort of area."

"I want Derbyshire!" Andrea pouted like a three year old.

Lizzie smirked at James, "What exactly is so thrilling about Derbyshire?"

"She grew up there. We haven't been in ages but it always reminds of her of home and her parents."

Lizzie nodded, she knew Andrea's dad her died when she was young and her mother had to work very hard and hadn't been around much after when Andrea was growing up. She too had died several years ago, seemingly from sheer exhaustion.

"You'll love it there, it's great, Lizzie."

James rolled his eyes. Andrea saw this. "Seriously, this is my home county, what's wrong with it? It's great, there's the peak district, the national park, the old castle- I can never remember the name of that place.... seriously Lizzie's there's a whole district of Antique shops and art galleries."

"And once you've seen one you've seen it all. Seriously you must have dragged me round there so many bloody times. I've seen more stately homes there than I've had hot dinners."

"You have not! That's totally untrue."

"No it's not! What that one you always take me to, Pemberley or something?"

"Yes, what about it?"

"We're not going there again," he had meant it to sound like he was being stern about it but then asked hesitantly, "are we?"

"Yes."

He pulled a face.

"C'mon I have to show Lizzie," she turned to her niece who had been watching this weird style of banter with an amused smile, "You'll love it there. It's amazing. I know you loved Chateau Vicomte but Pemberley is amazing."

"Yes, because you're only slightly biased." James laughed.

"What?" Lizzie looked between the two.

"I spent most of my childhood at that house."

"At the stately home?"

"Yeah I knew the girl who lived there, we were friends her name was Anna Fitzwilliam."

Lizzie took a big breath in; she knew when she'd heard the name Pemberley before. Caroline Bingley had mentioned it all those months ago, Richard had mentioned it in Northern Ireland and now that she thought about it his surname was Fitzwilliam. More recently than that though Giana had casually mentioned in her email the name Pemberley and how they would be going away from there.

"Oh, that's nice." Lizzie was completely unsure as to what to say.

What the hell was she going to do? She couldn't go there. But she couldn't tell her Aunt that, could she? What if she saw him? Why was fate so cruel?

There was a strange lull in the conversation.

"But wait a second, why are we planning our trip back to England when we've still got all this stuff to do in France?" She pulled out a list from her handbag that she and Andrea had planned on their first day. Ok so it wasn't the smoothest conversation changed but it wasn't totally awkward.

She had been getting on great with her Aunt and Uncle, and had been having a lot of fun. However, another awkward conversation was about to pop up as they drove in the car out of the ferry heading to Derbyshire.

There was a beeping sound signifying that she had a text from someone.

"Ohh Lizzie, is that your boyfriend?" James pulled a sing song voice.

"No Uncle James, It's not." She said in a clipped tone but was smiling slightly; he seemed determined to set her up with someone as he had mentioned her dating someone every day so far. "It was Jane."

"I think that you should get a boyfriend," he said this as though it was the simplest thing in the world; "I haven't been to a good wedding in ages."

"Stop teasing the poor girl. Haven't you done that enough, this holiday?" Andrea mock scolded her husband but then turned back to Lizzie who was sitting in the back seat, "Although you know Derbyshire is the place to meet men."

Lizzie smiled. She knew that this was where Andrea and James had met when she had been visiting her mother and he had been on an architectural conference.

"Didn't your friend Anna have a son?" James asked.

Lizzie gripped the side of her seat.

"Yes," there was a pause as Andrea had a nostalgic look on her face, "oh he was so adorable. I only saw him properly when he was about six but one of those boys you could tell was going to be a looker."

"Wait how well did you know this woman?" Lizzie had hoped that maybe they had know each other well as children but that Andrea wasn't that close to the Darcy family anymore.

Andrea noticed Lizzie's use of past tense and was surprised; she thought she hadn't mentioned Anna's death but then maybe it was just the way that Lizzie was talking.

"Anna was my best friend. She was probably the person I was closest to, back then."

"Are you still in contact with her?"

Oh so Lizzie didn't know then? It was strange; Andrea could have sworn that she was acting like she knew about the place and Anna. Maybe she was just pretending to not know so as not to arouse suspicion. Her face had definitely whitened though when the name came up.

"No she died over ten years ago."

"Oh I'm sorry. How exactly did you know her?"

Oh Lizzie you would make the worst spy, you're being totally obvious, she scolded herself.

"I was best friends with her growing up; she was a little bit older than me, someone who I could always rely on. She helped with my tuition."

Andrea smiled to herself. She could remember how they had be known around the local town as the Two A's. How Anna had been the one who was always there for her, who had gone to the posh private school and had seen how bad the local comprehensive was and so had made her family pay for Andrea to go there for her final two years.

"When was the last time you saw her or Pemberley?"

"Oh I guess she had just had her baby girl or maybe it was a few years after that. And I saw Pemberley after the funeral. It'll be strange going back without her there."

"We don't have to if you don't want to," Lizzie said quickly realising this was her chance to get out of a potentially humiliating experience.

"No I think I want to see the place again and I want to show you it."

"We really don't have to go if you don't want; I have seen quite a few of these houses, its ok with me."

"I guess it depends on what happens," Andrea frowned watching the worried expression on her niece's face.

Hours later Andrea was lying in the hotel bedroom looking up at the ceiling, still frowning slightly as she thought over the events of the day.

"What are you worrying about?" James pulled on a nightshirt and plonked down onto the bed, next to her.

"Lizzie."

"Lizzie? Why?"

"Don't you think she's been a bit strange recently?"

There was a slight pause.

"No, not really, she seems fine to me." James shrugged his shoulder. Andrea rolled over in bed to face him, irritated with him because although he was often a very attentive and loving husband there were times that he was very clueless.

"But she's been so tired and had a lot of headaches."

"And she had a blood test and they said she was fine. It's just the heat."

"Really?"

"Don't try to see stuff that isn't there, Andrea, she's fine."

"She acts strangely whenever we mention a boyfriend- do you think that she's seeing someone in secret?"

"What? I thought she was with that Chris bloke, the one she's going travelling with?"

"No dear, she's not." Andrea had to laugh. "And don't you think it's weird she doesn't want to go to Pemberley- I was sure that she would love it there."

"Maybe she's just seen a few too many houses. She is twenty three; maybe she just wants to have some fun?"

"I really don't think it was that; she was fine with going to the old castle and I would have said that would have been more boring."

"Well maybe she found it awkward, when you mentioned that Pemberley wasn't open to the public. I mean you'll be going there to remember Anna, right? It might be strange for her."

"Don't you think the castle would have been stranger for her and awkward?"

"Really why on earth would that be awkward?" He asked with a grin to which she couldn't help responding.

"I have no idea." she said with fake innocence.

"Well it certainly wasn't awkward for us, was it?"

"No, I only had a rolling pin in my bag." She laughed.

"Still it was a successful first date, in my opinion."

"Me too," she leant in and kissed him.

She and James had met several years ago in a supermarket whilst she had been picking up her mother's medication and he had been buying lunch. When he had asked her for her number he had, in a cocky self assured way that a very handsome twenty something young man could be, promised her a first date she would never forget.

Barely an hour later he had rung her asking to meet her at the old castle. Andrea had never been there, it wasn't the sort of place that she had hung out as a teenager and was extremely hesitant. After some urging from her mother who thought that 'she should go out more and not worry about her so much', she had turned up to the castle holding a very large handbag in which she had taken a rolling pin as she had been unable to find pepper spray.

He had spun her some line on the phone about the architecture there but the place had turned out to be an old ruin and he had spread out a rug, made a picnic and hundreds of candles spread out. She, who had been unsure about him suddenly decided that he might be worth it and had slid the rolling pin further into her bag.

It turned out that James actually did know something about the architecture that had been there and as they were laying back on the rug looking at where the ceiling arches would have been and the stars beyond that he had turned to her and kissed her.

It had certainly been a first date to remember.

Lizzie actually knew the story and was thinking about it as she lay in the bath in the room next door. She had heard it for the first time today when they had driven past a signpost for the castle and had sat there wishing that someday she would have a story like that to tell her own niece or daughter.

**So sorry for not updating sooner. My laptop crashed and I lost chapters and then only just got them back. The next update may take awhile as I have end of term craziness but summer starts in a week and a half!**

**So I know it's slightly cliché/ small worldly but I like the idea of Andrea and Anna being friends. I know in the book it's Anne Darcy but I wanted something different, a bit more fun and a slight variation from Lady Catherine de Bourg's daughter. **

**I know not a lot happened (again) and that it also moved quite fast but in the original it does as well and Pemberley is pretty much just around the corner...**

**Thank you so much to everyone who's reviewed. **


	17. Runins in Boots

**So I didn't update as soon as I had hoped but this is a really long chapter. Thanks to everyone who reviewed, I loved getting them and thanks to Girl of Chaos who gave me an idea for this chapter....**

"So is Pemberley open to the public?" Lizzie had to ask; it was a question that had bothering her for a while know. She would have thought not, from the way that she had heard people talk about it but surely the answer must be yes, because otherwise how was Andrea planning on going? And if the answer was yes then there would be tons of visitors and it was unlikely that Darcy would be there. She let out a sigh of relief; it was all going to be fine.

"Oh no but I know the house keeper, I rang her up and she said that it would be fine for us to go there."

Shit, shit, shit shiiiit!!! These, along with a few other words such as Fuck! and Arghh! seemed to be the only ones which Lizzie could process.

Lizzie was reminded of the opening minutes of Four Wedding and a Funeral with Hugh Grant stumbling around the bedroom yelling 'Fuck.'

"Oh. So it's the same housekeeper?"

"Yes, she's been there years but apparently she remembers me and said it was fine that I popped in."

"Oh." There was a pause. "Will the family be there?"

"They're going to be there today when I just want to go in quickly to see them and show them a few photos and things I have but I think the eldest had to be back to work tomorrow and he and his sister are going to go back to London together. At least that's what the housekeeper said when I rang when we left France."

Lizzie thought for a moment. "Then why don't you go on your own today and see them and then we'll all go tomorrow together when we've got the opportunity to look around properly?"

There was a slight hesitant tone in her voice but Andrea didn't pick up on this as she was considering the offer. She turned to her husband and gave him a questioning look to which he responded by shrugging.

"I guess that would work."

Yes! thought Lizzie, I won't have to deal with Darcy. The timing will work perfectly, and I'll still get to see the house. God, can you imagine what would have happened if I hadn't asked, it would have been absolutely hideous if we had run into each other.

"I don't want to intrude on the family. Well, maybe if I knew Anna's brother was going to be there," Andrea gave a mock wistful sigh and winked at Lizzie.

"George?" James questioned.

"No that was her husband. Her brother was Henry. Henry Fitzwilliam." She let out a moan. "I was so in love with him."

"Looks like you have competition," Lizzie joked with James elbowing him.

"He was older, a lot older and completely out of my league, but honestly, he was gorgeous Lizzie and amazing. I had such a huge crush on him."

"Did I ever meet him?" James was frowning trying to remember. "I think I did, right?"

"Not properly. We went out for dinner a couple of times with Anne and George. Maybe that's who you're thinking of?"

"Yes maybe. It's strange I can remember Anne but George doesn't stand out at all."

"We didn't go out a lot."

Lizzie who had been watching this conversation and listening intently suspected that there was something more to the situation than what Andrea had said.

And there was. Lizzie was not a writer and an observer of people for nothing. Andrea had been very close to Anna, particularly with her mother not being around and had become especially close at a time when they were both away from home at college. They had both been young and idealistic and had dreamed of having big careers and changing the world.

Andrea had gone on to do that, slowly but surely with shitty jobs and evil bosses living in a tiny crappy apartment whereas Anne had....not. She had gone to college and met George Darcy who was young, attractive and most importantly someone her family would approve off and had married him whilst very young, effectively giving up her all her plans.

The thing was she was happy. And Andrea could never resent her for that, despite the things that had changed. The fact that Anna was having a child when they had always talked about how children held you back, had changed things and the fact that Andrea had definitely become career obsessed had definitely emphasised the difference.

She could never dislike George Darcy. Not when she had heard Anna prattle on for endless hours about how great he was, how gorgeous, kind, amazing in bed and all the other words she had used to describe him but he had definitely shown the divide between the two. Maybe it was because he was rich and had class and Andrea had never had that or maybe it was just a sign of change.

When James came along, it was going to be different in Andrea's mind. But the two couples hadn't mixed together, she and James were in that new, tentative stage when they were still finding out about each other and Anna and George had been married for awhile. Then, there was the fact that Andrea and James had never had children whilst Anna and George were in that blessed out parent stage where they thought that it was everyone's civic duty to repopulate the earth. They had come across this problem before after they got married; being of the right age but it was something that the two of them had decided to do.

"I guess not, what with us living in London back then." James agreed with Andrea.

"Yeah. You know I think your right Lizzie. I'll go tomorrow on my own and you two can go to town and see some of the shops and we'll meet up and do lunch." She caught the slight flash of triumph in her niece's eye and suspected that this was what she had wanted all along.

"Sounds good to me, I wouldn't mind an old stroll around the town." James agreed.

"Yeah there's a couple of things that I need to pick up." Lizzie really needed to go to Boots or Superdrug to pick up some shampoo after she had left hers in a French Bed and Breakfast and had been using hotel supplies ever since.

*****

"When do you start working again?" Giana asked as reloaded her paint brush with paint and attacked the wall again.

"Tomorrow," her brother said with a groan.

"You going to have a lot of messages and stuff to deal with?"

"Yeah probably," he shrugged in a sloppy habit that he had got used to over the summer when he hadn't been forced to be in meetings or wearing suits, "But it was worth it." He smiled at her and she grinned back in response.

Yes, this summer had been good, Will decided, stopping painting the main front hall of Pemberley to look at his sister. When she had decided that she wanted to go to the company to understand the ropes for a year before she went back to university to get an actual degree, he had told her that she had to wait at least three months before she started so that she had the opportunity to relax. Even then he wasn't that happy with the idea.

She had then in her stubborn, obstinate way that always reminded him of when she had been four with long blonde golden curls and had refused to take her pink princess dress off, told him that she was going to work for Chris so that she had some experience and couldn't just be referred to at the company as 'that Darcy girl who had just been given the job because she was related'.

At this point Will was scared. Yes, he was scared that she might meet Elizabeth Bennet and find out what had gone on between the two of them but he was also scared that she was growing up too fast. Scared that she would become like him, emotionally dead and hating the corporate world that she would be forced into staying in.

It was then that he had decided to stop. Stop all the meetings and conference calls and everything. He had got the family boat out and he and Georgy, sorry Giana (he still wasn't used to it) had gone sailing. They had done this a lot when they were younger but it was years since they had done it. They went round the coast of France and just hung out together drinking good wine, playing cards reading and relaxing.

When they had come back they had decided to work on a summer project like their mother used to set them and had redecorated the bedrooms and were currently painting the hall but not with spray or glitter paint as Giana had originally, jokingly suggested.

"I might put it off, this hall's not quite done and I don't want to leave it looking unfinished." He may have become more relaxed over the summer but Giana still managed to criticize his precise, accurate way of painting, slowly and carefully.

"I think we might run out of paint," she said peering at the nearly empty paint pot. "Are there any more tins?"

"I don't think so, I guess I'll go to homebase and pick up some more. Do you want to come?"

"Yeah sure, I need some stuff in town anyway. Do you think we should change?" she looked down at her paint spattered jeans and old t-shirt.

"It's not a big deal; I doubt we'll run into anyone we know."

She raised an eyebrow at how relaxed he was but joined him in the passenger seat of the car after running a brush through her hair and applying a thin layer of lip gloss.

"I just said we're not going to run into anyone we know and yet you still have to apply makeup?" Will turned to look at his sister. "It's not a catwalk you know."

"Willy, darling," she put on a false very upper class, exaggerated voice," Life is a catwalk."

He looked at her for a moment. "Do you know how much like Caroline Bingley you just sounded like?"

"Ouch!" she swatted his arm.

"Hey! No attacking the driver! Or I may just...." he swerved the car slightly.

"Will!" she admonished him but was laughing.

Several minutes later they were just approaching the town; Homebase was actually a little further away near an Industrial Estate but Giana suddenly asked for the car to be pulled over.

"What for?"

"I just need a few things in town, ok. Why don't you go to Homebase and pick me up outside Boots, ok?"

"What exactly do you need? I went shopping yesterday and got you the toothpaste that you wanted."

"Um just some girly stuff." She blushed, she may have become closer to her brother recently and he had definitely changed but she wasn't going to ask him to buy her tampons. He had always tried to be there for her and he had, but she could still remember the expression on his face when he had found her, aged 12, washing the blood out of her sheets from her first period. It was funny now to think of it but it had been fairly mortifying back then.

Will must have realised what she was alluding to as he too blushed but then opened the car for her, making sure that she had some money. As he was driving off he realised they hadn't agreed a time that they would meet up but he supposed that he would finish first as he knew exactly what he was getting and Giana would probably dawdle at the shops.

*****

"Hello?" Andrea was unsure as to whether or not she had got the dates mixed up as she saw the painting equipment and the dust sheets lying all across the front hall.

"Oh hello," a middle aged woman holding a tray that had sandwiches and two glasses of traditional lemonade entered the room. "You must be Andrea Gardiner."

"Yes, you must be Mrs Reynolds?" Andrea stuck out her hand to shake Mrs Reynolds's own.

She put down her tray and shook it, "Yes," she peered closer at Andrea. "Oh I remember you now, it was just so many years ago. I'm afraid that Georgiana and William aren't in right now and I know that they wanted to talk to you, Georgiana in particular. Do you think that you could come by tomorrow?" She looked at Andrea, tilting her head to the side asking the question in a slightly impatient manner that Andrea usually associated with very busy, high achieving women.

"Yes, that would be fine. I have some things to show them anyway."

"Well I don't know if I mentioned it to you on the phone but William told me that's he's probably going to have another day off work and I know that he wanted to invite you to lunch. It's just unfortunate that you arrived at a time when they've popped out." There was something almost disapproving in her tone but her friendly smiled almost counteracted it.

"Well I guess I'll come back tomorrow, then."

"That's great, then you can have lunch- do you eat meat? It also means that I can get someone to show you around the place." She spoke rather quickly with the practiced air of someone who was used to organising everybody.

"Fine with me. What time? About eleven? I eat pretty much everything and I was wondering could I bring my niece- she's travelling with me?"

"That sounds great," there was a brief flicker of a smile on her face. "The more the merrier."

Andrea smiled to herself as she left the building, turning her head to have another look. Yes, it would be fun going there tomorrow and No, she had no intention of telling Lizzie that William Darcy was going to be there.

******

"So I'll be in the hardware store over there. The car's tire pressure is low and I want to get the right type of hose to check it."

"Ok , why don't we meet in half an hour outside boots?"

"Sure."

Lizzie walked off humming slightly to herself enjoying the rare English sunlight. She reached Boots and thought that she might as well buy the things she was looking for before she spent the rest of her time browsing the other shops. She had just found the shampoo and was looking for her brand when she heard a shy, female voice behind her.

"Lizzie? Lizzie Bennet?"

She turned, "Giana? What are you doing here?" She couldn't believe it.

"Oh my god, it is you!" The two women hugged and then leaned back looking at each other in surprise.

"I can't believe you're here."

"I can't believe _you're _here. You're so tanned! And thin! And your hairs so long now," she was almost laughing in the flurried excitement of it all.

"Really?" Lizzie fingered the edge of her hair. "I was about to say the same of you, except the hair of course," she looked at Giana's new shoulder length hair, "When did you have that done?"

"Oh this," Giana copied Lizzie move from moments ago and picked at her own hair." I had this done ages ago. Did I not tell you?"

"No you didn't. So what have you been doing?"

Giana launched into a very fast speech about her summer, Lizzie caught the words 'France' and 'boat' when another woman with a large trolley wanted to get past and the two realised how much they were in the way.

"Why don't we get a drink? I know this great place." Giana suggested.

"Sure, I just need to pay for some things, ok."

"Oh yeah me too."

It was strange, Lizzie thought as she pulled out her purse at the till. She had never really spent any time with Giana and yet the two were getting on amazingly. It was very similar to the relationship she'd had with Chris Bingley with the type of humour they shared, their similar interests in music and films.

******

God, how long did it take to buy a couple of things in Boots? Seriously where was Giana? He had dashed there, thinking that he would be late to meet her and after five minutes of waiting outside the front entrance she still hadn't turned up.

"Women, huh?" A middle aged man was leaning on the wall next to the entrance of Boots. "Never ready on time but should you dare to be late, there'll be hell to pay."

"Yeah I know what you mean," Will smiled at the man and checked his watch again.

"So who are you waiting for then?"

"My sister," Will had never really done this much; talk to a total stranger, randomly. "And you?"

"My niece. Well I'm also supposed to be meeting my wife and then we're all going for lunch that is if they ever turn up."

"Two women, does that mean double the waiting?"

The man smiled. "Yes, it does seem that way."

"And of course there's the fact that they gang up on you?"

"Oh yeah, they definitely do that and the bathroom rule."

"The bathroom rule? Oh that they can't go alone?" Will laughed slightly.

"You my niece would kill me for this very sexist conversation that we're having."

Will smiled knowing that Giana would probably be the same.

"Yeah I guess I probably will. Or I could get Aunty Andrea in the bathroom and we could gang up on you together." A very feminine voice from behind James spoke. A voice that Will Darcy recognized.

"Look who I ran into," Giana said with a very wicked smile on her face.

She knew. Of course she had known. It wasn't hard to figure out. Her brother had changed and something had caused the changed. The fact that it was a woman really wasn't all that surprising given his age and in Giana's opinion the fact that it was Lizzie Bennet just made it all that much better.

Oh. Oh. Errr. Um. Right. So _she_ was here? Um, actually Darcy no question about it he told himself; she _was_ here.

Oh. Oh. Oh. P. Q.R.S. Oh for goodness sake, Lizzie coherent thoughts would be a good idea right now and running through the alphabet will not help anyone.

So Giana had lied to her? Yes, that must be it. When she had asked about what she was doing in September, university wise and Giana had mentioned going to Bristol and how supportive her brother had been which had lead for an opportunity for Lizzie to ask about her brother.

"_Oh yes, Will's in London right now. Going to be snowed under with work for weeks. Then I think he has to go to New York." _

Those had been her exact words.

Giana was also remembering these words and was smiling to herself.

"Wait a minute, had you two even met before? I'm not sure I'd introduced you two."

"We've met," Will gave his sister a look that let her know that her innocent act didn't work with him. "Elizabeth," He nodded to her politely, completely unsure as to how to react.

"D-Darcy," she was also completely unsure as to how to react. Why was he here? Why was she here? Why had Shampoo seemed important?

"Will," he replied with a soft smile to which she returned a rather tentative one as though agreeing to his request to call him by his first name.

"Lizzie?" James was watching the scene with interest. It was clear from the way that his niece was acting, blushing and fidgeting that there was a story here and he wanted to know what it was.

"Oh," Lizzie jumped slightly from where she had been gazing at Darcy's awkward smile and Giana's satisfied smirk and turned to her uncle.

"Uncle James, this is my friend Giana and her brother D- Will," she gestured towards them and blushed further red.

"Nice to meet you."

"And you."

Lizzie watched the scene deciding that it was rather strange to see Will shake hands with her uncle.

****

It had been an honest mistake. Lizzie knew that. It still didn't mean that she didn't want to kill her Uncle James.

"It was very nice to meet you. You'll have to arrange to do something with Lizzie, sometime. We'll be in Derbyshire for a few more days. I'm sure that Andrea and I are boring you something awful, aren't we Lizzie?" He turned to her with a smile before turning back to the Darcy siblings.

"I mean the amount of places we've dragged her round is unbelievable. Just this morning my wife has gone to Pemberley- do you know the place? She's determined to take Lizzie and I there tomorrow for goodness knows how many hours. I completely know why you don't want to go Lizzie, after all the chateaus in France I think if I see one more chandelier or gold crested painting I might scream ."

Swallow me up ground, please just swallow me up. Let this be over. Let it all just be over. Let a meteorite come down and destroy us all. Let me be struck down by Lightning. Lightning in the day? Is that possible? Or a bird a great big giant eagle could come down and swoop me up. Now we really are being ridiculous, aren't we Liz.

Lizzie looked up from looking at her feet to catch a slight smirk on Giana's face, a confused look on James' and on Darcy's sorry Will's shock as well as another faint smile of mirth almost as if he was laughing at her. But, that couldn't be true could it? James had, however unintentionally insulted his house and he was smiling?

And as for James, stamping on his foot might be noticed as would hitting across the back of his head and so she would just have to get her revenge later.

"Uh Uncle James," she started but was interrupted.

"I actually own Pemberley," Darcy said with a laugh not at James' new expression of shock and embarrassment but Lizzie's mortified flush. "And really we don't have that many chandeliers. Unfortunately we do have a lot of paintings," he scrunched his nose in apology and Lizzie couldn't help but smile.

"Wait? What?" James turned to Lizzie in confusion. She nodded.

"Oh I didn't know, I'm sorry I didn't mean to offend. My wife tells me that the house is very beautiful,"

"None taken. You should come by and see it some time."

"Wait a second; your wife is Andrea Gardiner?" Giana interrupted.

"Yes."

Giana turned to her brother, "She was the woman who was going to tell us about Mum, I can't believe we weren't there to meet her. Do you think if we hurried she would still be there?"

James looked at his watch. "We are supposed to be meeting her at the gate to go for lunch soon."

"Oh well that's perfect. We can all meet her there and you can all come for lunch. I know that we'd," she gave a sly look towards her brother, "love to catch up with Lizzie."

"Georgy these people may have plans." Will responded trying to be the gentleman and get Lizzie out of a potentially awkward situation although right now he could kiss his sister for suggesting it. There was no way, now that he had run into Elizabeth Bennet that he was going to let her disappear without even been given the chance to talk to her.

"Well then they'll just have to cancel them won't they," she linked arms with Lizzie who was dragged a little unwillingly to the town's car park.

"You really don't have to come," Will told James as they followed the two women but he didn't believe what he was saying. If he'd his way he would have forced them to come to Pemberley and then whilst they were, slashed their car tires so that they would have to stay the night.

James shook his head, "It's fine. It'll be nice for Lizzie to see some friends and I know that Andrea wanted to give you and your sister some things.

They reached the car park where Lizzie was surprised to see Giana lead her up to a little mini cooper. She had been expecting some posh fancy car and whilst it looked very new and shiny it wasn't what she had been expecting.

"Is this your car?"

"Yeah, isn't it sweet? Will bought it for me as a present for Uni. He's got one, but his is an original. Which is totally unfair!" she raised her voice so that he could hear.

"I told you I couldn't find an original in good condition."

"You could've let me have yours anyway," she pouted at him.

He pretended to think about it for a moment, "Nah I don't think so."

Lizzie couldn't help but laugh at the brother / sister relationship that the two had going on. She had always suspected that Darcy, whoops sorry Will would give Giana anything she asked it but it was nice to see that it wasn't always the case.

"Lizzie you should come in our car!" Giana was still fairly excited bouncing up and down on the balls of her feet.

"I don't think so, if James is following you I should probably make sure that he knows where he's going. "

"Lizzie, its fine. I survived France with the crazy French drivers on the wrong side of the road, go and catch up with your friends. Anyway I think I'm going to play some very loud music- the type that Andrea won't allow to me to play in our car."

"Uh ok." Why was he being so difficult? Could he not tell that this situation was awkward for her? No, of course not, he was a man. She hated this generalisation, but couldn't he for once see what situation she was in and make up some urgent appointment that they had to dash away to.

"I'm driving!" Giana yelled. "Don't look at me like that, Willl, you drove _my _car here, I get to drive back. She got into the front right hand side and turned around and sighed as she saw Will and Lizzie arguing over who would sit in the front passenger seat.

"Why don't you both go in the back?" she turned to them, sighing slightly.

"No it's fine, I'll go in the back and your brother can go in the front."

"Seriously I'll go in the back, you should go in the front."

"But you're big; you'll be cramped in the back."

"Big huh?" Giana laughed, "And how exactly would you know that?"

Lizzie coloured. She couldn't believe that shy, sweet Georgiana had just sad that. This whole conversation was far too awkward as it was.

"Georgy," Will gave his sister a warning glare, noticing Lizzie's discomfort.

"I uh meant tall," Lizzie added lamely .

"I'm going to go in the back, you should go in the front. " Will suggested.

Lizzie nodded and climbed in the front, very conscious that if she tilted her head back and to the side, just slightly then she would be staring at Will Darcy.

The drive was silent and would have been awkward were it not for the radio playing. Soon after a short drive through the country side they reached a pair of very ornate gates that were open slightly.

They inched through the gates, Will constantly criticising the way that Giana was driving, making sure that she wouldn't catch the wing mirrors against the gate until final she turned round and yelled at him to 'shut up!'

They were driving around a long winding drive, unknowingly Lizzie was leaning forward to catch a sight of the house. Will was leaning forward to catch a sight of Lizzie's reaction when she saw the house.

"Wow," Lizzie didn't know what to say. It looked exactly like a house from a film. It didn't look real, at all. She was never one to be fascinated by buildings or architecture but she had to admit that there was something special about the place. The way that it sat in it's surrounding with the trees casually sitting around it and the hedges and the fountain, she could tell that there was something special about it.

"Yeah its pretty nice isn't it," Giana laughed at the expression on Lizzie's face.

"Pretty nice? That's like saying the grand canyon is 'fairly big'."

Will felt a little burst of pride as Lizzie spoke.

They pulled up to a drive and saw that the large front door was open.

"That's strange," Giana said.

"It's probably my Aunt Andrea leaving. " Lizzie looked at her watch, "We were supposed to meet her at the gate to go for lunch at around this time.

"Is she the woman who knew our mum?" Giana asked and Lizzie noticed that she sounded a lot younger then.

"Yeah, I think so."

"We should get changed and then we should all go for lunch. Shall we go to the stables?" Giana suggested clearly eager to meet with someone who knew her mother.

"The stables? You have horses?" Lizzie asked; confused as to why they would be eating in a smelly barn.

"Yes we have horses but The Stables is a local restaurant nearby." Will explained.

The two Darcy siblings led her into the entrance of Pemberley. Looking around Lizzie couldn't think of many words to describe the place apart from impressive and unlike anything she had ever seen. Impressive but..... messy.

There were paint pots and rollers lying around, mugs of coffee and tea lying around and dust sheets covering the floor.

"It's not normally like this," Will was embarrassed. He had pictured that the first time that Lizzie saw Pemberley, yes he had pictured it, that it would be amazing and wonderful. He had pictured the whole house to be perfect; perhaps she could see it at night at the annual summer ball. The house would be lit up by candlelight and she would be wearing some fabulous dress and he could bring her into the room and introduce her to all his friends and family as his...... fiancé.

Yes, it was a rather pathetic and girly dream and Richard would have died laughing if he knew but it was something that he had often thought about after a stressful day's work when he wanted to relax.

And instead he got this. Her arriving whilst he was in his oldest paint spattered jeans, the hallway a mess and him being completely unprepared and ineloquent.

"No it looks great," Lizzie said and she meant it genuinely. Looking past the mess she could tell that this was a truly impressive building.

"We should give you a tour."

"I thought that we were going to get changed and then go for lunch?" Will asked.

"I have to find Andrea," Lizzie said.

At this moment she heard voices coming from down the hall, her Aunt and someone else talking in a friendly manner. Andrea had in fact been going but had been invited by Lucy Reynolds to stay and talk for awhile longer. They had left the doors open to get rid of the smell of paint.

"That'll be Lucy." Giana said.

"Lucy?"

"Lucy Reynolds, she's our housekeeper of sorts. Will explained.

"Oh."

Two entered the hall, her Aunt and another woman, very tall and thin with a firm sort of face who was smiling and talking to her.

"Lizzie! What are you doing here?" Andrea looked up in surprise.

James, who had been following in the car behind had just finished parking after having more difficulty than Giana getting through the narrow gate being in a wider car that was also rented, entered the room.

"James!"

"Hello, you'll never guess who little Lizzie here knows."

"Who?" She turned to see the two Darcy siblings there, "Oh, you must be Fitzwilliam and Georgiana."

"Yes, are you Andrea Gardiner?" Lizzie could tell that Giana was very excited.

"Yes."

"You knew our mum?"

"Yes."

"Look," Will interrupted what looked like the start of a long conversation, "Why doesn't everyone go and sit down somewhere tidier? I'll go and tell the taxi driver he's not needed."

Lucy Reynolds led them into the living room which was about the size of Lizzie's entire apartment and a few moments later Will joined them.

"So," Lizzie was one of those people who felt the need to fill the awkward silences with endless chatter, "This is my Aunt and Uncle. This is Will and Giana who I know from London."

There was a pause whilst the two separate groups looked at each other, smiling but also sussing the other out.

Andre decided that perhaps now was not the best time to ask all the questions she had in mind, such as why didn't you want to go to Pemberley, then? Why didn't you mention it before? How long have you known them? And, most importantly have you got a decent look at Will Darcy? And, have you seen the way that he looks at you?

"We were thinking that we should all go out to lunch," Will informed everyone.

There was a guilty expression on both Andrea's and Lucy Reynolds's face.

"I uh made you lunch but then you weren't back for such a long time and Andrea had told her husband to pick her up here a lot later and so we ate your lunch." She explained.

"It's ok, I'm not hungry really," Giana said quickly.

"I am slightly," admitted James and Lizzie knew that this meant he was starving.

"There's still a bit of food left down in the kitchen, you could have some of that," Mrs Reynolds offered.

"That sounds great."

The two left the room and Lizzie could hear them discussing the architecture of the building as they went.

"I have some things that I need to show the two of you," Andrea looked to the corner where a large bag was sitting on top of a cabinet.

"I was uh wondering if I ," Giana turned her gaze away from her brother, "If I could talk to you alone."

Andrea looked up in slight surprise but nodded. "That's fine, I guess."

Will smiled at his sister, encouragingly and stood up to leave the room. Lizzie noticing this stood up as well.

"I uh guess that we'll get out of your way," Lizzie thought that he might have been bothered that his sister wanted to talk to Andrea alone but his tone was light. She followed him out of the room.

"So are you hungry?" He asked her as the door shut behind them.

"No not really. Are you?"

The Darcy siblings were very alike. Giana did not care that she had not eaten as long as she could talk to someone about her mother in the hope to gain a little part of the something that she had once loved and lost.

And Will, who even if he had been starving and had not eaten for a week would have claimed that he was not hungry in the slightest to get a chance to spend some alone time with Elizabeth. She wasn't someone he had loved and _lost _yet, well he hoped that he hadn't lost her completely. Maybe Pemberley and her time spent here would help him find out the answer to that question.

Which is why he smiled and said, "Not at all." Despite the fact that he had already picked out exactly what he was going to eat at The Stables and had worked out how long it would be before he ate it. "Do you want to go for a walk? I could show you some of the grounds and maybe the house."

A walk? Alone with him? Lizzie wasn't sure what she would do or say with Giana or her Uncle or her Aunt. But then what choice did she have? He was being so friendly and welcoming and genuine and it wasn't as though she could turn around and say, 'no she didn't want to go for a walk' and then run out.

"Sure, that sounds good." She turned her face away from him slightly so didn't catch the brilliant flash of joy that came across his face.

**Thank you again to everyone whose read and reviewed so far. We are final getting into some of our E/D moments! Yay!**

**Veronica in answer to your question- I hadn't thought about it. I now realise I should have done and your question will be solved in the next chapter (or at least one soon). Thanks for reviewing and getting me to think about it. **

**I thought I would give you a little sneak preview of one of the first scenes I wrote. **

"I had built her up in my mind as this perfect woman, this absolute goddess and you know what?"

"What?"

"I keep waiting for the disappointment, every moment I spend with her now I think I'm going to find out suddenly that she's not perfect, not flawless but in fact flawed in some huge way that makes her not right for me. And then I will have to deal with this crashing wave of disappointment coming down on me."

**That probably won't be in the next chapter but soon (ish).**

**Also...**

"I'd love to live in a place like this. "

He turned to her in surprise.

**So now you've had that little bit, please review. Hopefully I'll get the next chapter up sooner if you do.**


	18. Inspiration at Pemberley

**Thank you so much to everyone who reviewed. I want to thank Veronica for pointing something out to me and to Sara71 whose reviews always make me smile. **

"I never talked about our mother in front of Georgy." Will said as he led her out of the front door and along a path that curved to the right, around the back of the house.

"Giana," she corrected him with a small smile watching him to see what he would reveal.

"No, I never talked to _Georgy_ about it. I guess with Giana I shall have to. They're very different people, you know, in part I guess because of you. Georgy's my shy freckly little sister whereas Giana is my grown up sophisticated _sibling_."

She blushed.

"I'm serious, she's so much more confident since she met you." He looked at her earnestly.

Giana hadn't actually told her brother that she had met Lizzie but looking back he could probably pinpoint it to when she had gone for that lunch with Chris. Yes, that must have been it when she had started talking about Cambridge.

"Are these rhododendrons?" she paused at a bush that rang alongside the wall of the house. "Of course they are. There so recognizable. I love rhododendrons but I can never spell them, I can barely pronounce them. I always want to add in another e."

What on earth was she talking about? Really? Was she out of her mind? Hello, earth to Elizabeth Bennet, get the hell out of rambling city, now!

He smiled a little unsurely at her. "Sure. I can never say amphro- anthro morfomosoism. An-thro-po-morph-ism ." He finally pronounced it clearly.

She laughed, "Because that's a word you have to say everyday I'm sure."

"Oh and you say rhododendrons every day do you?"

"No, but on the days that I do it really messes them up."

"I'm sure," he said smiling again. Lizzie noticed that he kept doing that.

It was slightly unnerving to watch the usually frowning Darcy smile. Maybe that was the difference. He had spoken of the difference in confidence levels between his little sister Georgy and the grown young woman Giana. Well, Darcy was the scowling corporate type who was too busy and important to make small talk but Will was friendly, kind, spoke about his sister often and was welcoming to her, despite all the things that she had said to him.

"So, how have you been?" he asked.

"Fine, fine. You?" she wished that she could expand so that they could make effortless conversation easily but there was distinctive edge between the two of them.

"Yeah I've been good. Did Giana tell you where we've been?"

Lizzie nodded; unfortunately Giana had given her all the details. If she hadn't, at least now he could tell her about her and all she would have to do would be to nod and say uhuh in the right places.

There was a question that was bothering Lizzie, "Why didn't you talk about your mother in front of Giana?"

He frowned slightly and ran his hand through his hair. "I guess because my father never did, no one did. I didn't want to talk about something that I had that she would never really remember; it didn't seem fair."

"I guess that is one way of looking at it," she agreed, "But I think if I was Giana I would want to know her about her. Where I came from, you know?" She smiled at him.

"So where did you come from?" He asked looking deep into her eyes. She turned away embarrassed.

"Sorry?"

"Ok, let's look at things this way. You're at my house. You're friends with my sister. You're Aunt was best friends with my mum. I'm hoping that you'll stick around for awhile and I think it's going to make things easier if we're talking to each other."

She nodded mutely unable to believe the difference that had come over him. He too was unsure as to what he was doing and wondered if he should stop and leave the atmosphere between the two of them to slowly melt away.

"I think that things were a bit difficult between the two of us before and I think that we should change that and start over again. Will Darcy." He stuck out his hand.

She smiled, despite herself, at the carefree way that he was acting. "Regina Phalange."

He chuckled slightly to himself. "Phoebe was always my favourite."

"Phoebe?" She pretended to look confused.

He gave her a look to tell her that he wasn't buying her act.

"Fine, fine. I am completely unoriginal and stole it from friends," she laughed. "Still I would have never pegged you for a Friends fan. Much too girly for you."

"Yes well Giana had a large role in my watching it, she was addicted. So what program do you think I would watch?"

She looked him up and down and was embarrassed to admit that she had no idea what he would watch. "Uh I don't know something crimey/ dramaish. Murdes, detective drama, maybe?"

"Yeah I guess. Giana and I have recently started watching this new program, The Mentalist."

"Ohh Simon Baker." She wiped her forehead, pretending to sweat with excitement.

"Yeah Giana likes him, I don't really see it myself." He shrugged.

"How can you not? The guy is charming and funny, wears three piece suits and drives a Citroën DS! That's only the most gorgeous car in the world."

"Hmm," he pretended to consider it. "Sure, but the clutch does tend to stick a little."

"What?" her eyes widened at him.

"Yeah I have one. I don't really drive it a lot but there is something very fun about driving it."

"Seriously?" She stared at him.

"Yeah." He was laughing a little at her reaction.

"Sorry. I just really like old cars."

"Yeah I think Jane mentioned before that you really like old stuff. We should go this way instead."

Lizzie had been meaning to carry on the path past the house to lead further to the grounds but instead he made her take the path to the right that lead to more flower beads and a series of trees beyond that.

"I want to show you the maze; it's just round this corner."

"The maze?"

The layout of the grounds of Pemberley was very confusing, there was a line of trees behind and there was a series of flower beds, many with roses and a little benched area tucked away from which a person could just see the driveway peeking out from the house but could just see the maze in the distance.

They were just coming upon this quiet little spot when Will's phone rang. Annoyed he reached into his pocket wishing that he'd had enough sense not to leave it back at Pemberley but when he saw that it was his vice president, not Richard but Mark someone he trusted, and with all the work that he'd had to take off he knew that he would have to answer it.

"Sorry, I have to take this. I may be a while, but it's really important, sorry." He shot her an apologetic look and picked up the phone and answered it as he walked away. Lizzie decided to take a little seat on the bench and wait for him. She was glad, almost that he had this phone call as it gave her a little time to reflect on what had just happened, everything seemed so sudden.

So Will Darcy had certainly changed. He was being so nice and lovely that she couldn't believe. Not just because of whom he had been and the way that he had been before but also because of what had happened before. It would be hard for any to just change their behaviour and attitude after what had happened.

Will had walked off, probably behind the trees, anyway she couldn't seem him anywhere. She twisted her head around the corner to try and catch a glimpse of him, when she saw the view properly. Of course she had seen it as they had walked around but she had been too busy avoiding Will's intensive gaze or actually trying to get a look at him without him noticing to actually pay attention.

It was amazing, truly it was. She could see the stretch of the driveway and could image an eighteenth century carriage with horses driving up there with glamorous woman and men. She closed her eyes and pictured it, the young woman with... with.... dazzling red hair arriving at her new home with her handsome, young, rich husband to lead a new life that terrified and excited her at the same time.

This excited Lizzie; she could imagine some epic amazing love story like the books that she had devoured when she was younger.

She pulled out a notepad and paper, two items she always kept in her bag and began jotting notes. She looked at the landscape again, saw the line of trees and pictured people hiding in them with all sorts of secrets. Yes her ideas were rather clichéd but they would develop later, at the moment her brain was processing at a rate too fast for her to process, she was just going to write down the words that came to mind.

And there were a lot of them. She was writing at such a rate, every time she looked up or caught a smell of some plant this would give her a new idea or a way to develop the ones that she already had, and because of this she didn't notice Will Darcy standing behind her.

He was glad that she hadn't noticed him. As creepy and as stalkerish as it sounded it gave him the opportunity to watch her and he rather liked that. He did however, want to know what she was writing but her arm was shielding the notepad and her long hair was falling down across it.

Suddenly after two minutes or so of writing frantically, Lizzie re-emerged into the world when she needed to scrap her hair out of her eyes and she realised, in the way that animals have certain sense for predators, that someone was standing behind her.

She turned, "Oh sorry I've been rude haven't I?" she was so surprised that she suddenly became very embarrassed and had a need to talk so fast. "My mum always used to say that I got like this when I started writing. I'm sorry I didn't mean to It's just that this is such a beautiful place. It's so inspiring. I would love to live in a place like this."

He looked at her.

Oh, God. Why had she said that? Why? What on earth would he think of her? Why did she keep doing that?

"Yeah," his voice was husky and it sounded as though he'd had difficulty getting the right words out. "It's pretty great."

And I could have lived here, couldn't I, she thought to herself, wondering if he was thinking the same thing.

There was a pause as both of them looked at each other, both unsure as to what they should do. They then both looked away suddenly, perhaps aware that despite trying to forget all that had happened between them was an idea that was not going to work.

"Didn't you want to see the maze?" He asked after a pause.

"That would be nice."

They walked around the line of trees to a tall over 8 foot maze.

"Oh wow. When you said maze I was imagining some little floor planned maze. I hadn't pictured anything like this."

"Yeah, we not really into half standards here. My father had it planted when I was born but it took years to grow tall enough so that I couldn't cheat."

"I'd love to go round it."

"I don't think we have time." He looked at his watch, he was annoyed about his phone call it had taken much longer than he had thought it would. But, he had done it, managed to secure even more time off. He would have to look over some paperwork and would probably have to give a large bonus to Mark but still....

Originally he had been planning to work, solidly for a large chunk of the summer and then have his time off around the time that Charlie was going to come down; just before the Pemberley Annual Ball. Instead, when he had seen the changes and difficulties that his sister was going through he knew it was time for him to sort his priorities out and take more time off. He was a damn good CEO and normally gave 110%, so he deserved a bit of a break.

She looked at her watch, "Shit! I didn't realise we had been that long. I guess we'd better head back."

Will nodded his agreement and swirled his tongue in his mouth, resisting the urge to say "Time flies when you're having fun."

"We should go back this way," they walked on the path around the opposite side of the house.

"Wow, how much land do you have?" Lizzie wished that she could stop sounding like a ridiculous tourist or excited teenager using all the same words but that was how she felt.

"Quite a lot," he smiled again. He had been doing that a lot lately, it was nice. "I'll have to make sure that you get the proper tour soon."

"I'd like that."

"It's best done on bikes. Well one year, Giana was obsessed with rollerblading but there were several accidents."

They had just reached the house again and Lizzie was standing out the front. She wondered what he would think if she went into James' car and got out her camera. She guessed that as the car was probably locked, she would have to do it another day.

They entered the house, Lizzie looking around unable to believe that someone could live in a place like this. She looked around the hall which was half coloured in a slightly dirty fading yellow colour whilst the rest was a much neater cream colour.

"Have you got decorators in?" She asked Darcy.

"Oh no, we're painting it ourselves. Giana wanted to redecorate her bedroom, mine needed painting and so we thought we might as well do the hall at the same time."

It was stupid, really, but the fact that he'd chosen to paint the hall himself instead of paying someone else to do it made her look at him differently. Maybe it was because the majority of people would not have done it themselves; the hall was very big and he had obviously had to get ladders out to reach the tallest parts.

"It's a nice colour."

It's a nice colour? What? Could she have said anything more stupid?

"Yeah it is."

The hall was large and their voices carried and so Andrea and Giana had opened the door to see who was there. It looked as though Giana had been crying. Will moved towards his sister concerned but she merely smiled at him, reassuringly.

"Lizzie, Giana's invited us to a brunch tomorrow. She said that she could give us a tour of Pemberley."

"Oh that sounds good."

Lizzie had thought that the bike ride around Pemberley's grounds with Will had sounded good, she had been looking forward to that. So had he.

Will was frowning at Giana slightly trying to let her know that he already had plans for showing the grounds but she didn't seem to be picking up the message.

"Oh and I was thinking that if we got out some of the old bikes, we could show you the grounds properly."

Will was now frowning at Giana deeply.

"Doesn't that seem like a great idea?" Andrea looked at Lizzie. "You said around eleven?" she asked Giana.

"Yeah, we'll have some food and then I'll show you round. Will has to work so I was thinking that it should be just us girls."

Well, actually little sis, I won't be at work so it won't be just you girls, Will smiled to herself.

"Oh that'll make James happy. Speaking of which, where is he Lizzie? We really ought to get going. It's been so lovely to meet you both," Andrea smiled warmly at the siblings.

"And you." Will shook her hand.

"Yes, definitely," Giana said with a lot of warmth, looking at Andrea sincerely. It seemed to Lizzie, that she had been given the information she wanted.

After a couple of minutes of polite conversation, James turned up and they said their goodbyes and climbed into the car.

"So, they seem like a nice family." James commentated as he eased his way back through the gate. "Such a beautiful house."

"Yes, they're a lovely family," Andrea agreed in a pleasant sort of tone and then turned around to face her niece, "And why didn't you tell me that you knew them?"

"I uh um I guess I didn't think that they would be there or that it was worth mentioning." She stuttered in reply.

"Didn't think it was worth mentioning? Are you blind? Have you taken one look at William Darcy? Oh I think he's almost better than his Uncle Henry. If I were twenty years younger you would be in serious competition." She paused. "Well actually I wouldn't, I've seen the way he acts around you. Even Giana has, you know she was telling me how much her brother has changed recently and she reckoned that this change was down to you. He certainly seems to be in love with you."

Lizzie blushed and her uncle on seeing this decided to take advantage and tease his niece for all it was worth.

"Ohh Lizzie's got a boyfriend. Lizzie's got a boyfriend. Li-zz-ie's got a boy friend." He sang. "Lizzie and Will sitting in a tree, K—I—S—S—I—N—G!"

"Uncle James!" she whined. "Stop it!"

"Yes, you are being unfair James." Andrea scolded her husband. "After all he's not her boyfriend," her niece gave her a smile of thanks, "Yet, anyway. She's too chicken to talk to him properly."

They had reached the hotel. "You two are being ridiculous." Lizzie threw up her hands and got out of the car.

********

"Will and Lizzie sitting in a tree, K—I—S—S—I—N—G!"

"Georgy would you stop? I want to get this finished soon."

"We're almost done."

After their guests had left Will had tried to tentatively see if his sister was ok. She had assured him that she was and that she had got answers and information that she needed but that it was too early to talk about it with him. She had, instead, decided to concentrate on finishing the hall and teasing her brother.

"So when's the wedding going to be? I've always been a big fan of autumn. I can't wait to be a bridesmaid! I've heard that blues and greens are very popular colours this season for bridesmaids along with cream brides dressed. Who will you have as best man, Charlie or Richard?" She was prattling on, smiling as she saw his face grow more and more annoyed.

"Carry on like this and you won't be invited." He muttered under his breath.

"Ooooh so you admit that this will be happening, then? Oh, I want to become an Aunt as soon as possible, ok, so you two should work on that."

Giana had no idea but with each friendly tease about the future for Elizabeth and Will, he felt a little twist at his heart. He wanted this as much as his sister wanted it; he just had no idea whether it was going to happen. He guessed that it was really up to him to make it happen. He knew what might help him.

They finished up fairly quickly, working faster than Will had thought. He still hadn't eaten but was now nervous about what he planned to do later.

He left Giana pouring over the photo albums; she was busy sticking in the new photos that Andrea had brought her. He suspected that she had gone up to the old spare room, the one that they had decided not to repaint where a large number of their mother items had been stored.

It wasn't everything she had owned but after she had died, their father had moved some items into there. Even when she had been alive she'd had a wardrobe in there with dresses and coats and other items that she didn't wear a lot stored in it. All that had happened after her death was that her dressing table and antique mirror, the rest of her clothes, her jewellery, make-up and perfume had been put in there and George Darcy had locked the door behind him.

As Georgiana had grown up and become more and more like her mother with her long blonde hair, so much so that her father had started to call her "his own little Anna" he had given her a copy of the key, something which William had never had. Whenever she had been upset or needed her mother she would hide away in this room. After their father's funeral she had spent days in there and Will who was dealing with his own grief by spending hours sitting in the old oak tree had never noticed. In fact he had only properly found out his sister's secret this summer.

He went into the library a place he always went to when he needed to feel particularly tranquil but today that wasn't his purpose. Right now he was looking for a particular book.

After half an hour of searching he gave up. He had everything organised in a very structured system so knew that if he couldn't find it, it wasn't likely to be there. Thinking about it, it was more likely to be in Giana's room.

"Giana," he paused a moment before knocking on the old spare bedroom.

"Yes?" he turned to see her standing down the hall behind him.

"Oh hey." He was surprised. He had thought that she would have been in the room. "I was wondering if I could borrow a book off you."

"A book off me?" she raised her eyebrows in surprise. "Anything that I have that's in my room instead of the library's just likely to be chick lit. You're tastes have definitely changed."

"Yeah, yeah. It's called The Potential of Fear. It has an orange cover, bright orange."

"I know it," she answered shortly and led him into her room.

He had thought that she would pull a book from the shelves that lined the wall opposite of her bed but instead she pulled out a stool and climbed on it, pulling a box that was sitting at the back of the top of her wardrobe.

She dug in it, still standing on the stool wobbling precariously and found it and chucked it at him. He caught it and looked up at the unlabelled box. He had a rough idea of what it contained and wished that it had never had reason to exist.

"E. J. M. Bennet." he traced his finger over Lizzie's names which was raised slightly on the front cover of the book. "Elizabeth Josephine Marie Bennet." He was talking out loud, not realising that his sister was listening in but then he turned to her. "Don't you find it weird that we just spent the day with an award winning author? It seems strange."

"An award winning author?" Giana frowned at him. "What do you mean?"

"Lizzie." He answered simply.

"Lizzie? Wait a second, do you mean that Elizabeth Bennet is Lizzie?" Giana grabbed his arm.

"Didn't she ever tell you her surname?" He asked somewhat sarcastically, staring at his sister.

"Of course she did," she snapped back at him.

"Well, then how did you not know?"

"I just didn't think about it, ok?" she was still snapping at him. "Oh my god, I can't believe this!" she groaned.

"It's not that big a deal." He tried to comfort her.

"Of course it is! I've been talking to her all this time and not realised. She probably thinks I'm this huge idiot!" Giana was very annoyed with herself.

"I'm sure she doesn't." There was a pause. "So you really didn't know?" Will looked at his sister curiously. "I thought that was how you met. Chris introduced you two?"

"Well, he did, but not because of that," she mumbled, embarrassed.

"Why then?"

"Well, uh," she wasn't sure how to tell her brother that once again Chris had known about something that was bothering her before he did, "Lizzie went to Cambridge and Chris knew, well he thought he knew, that I was having trouble there. "

"Oh," there was a pause whilst Will collected his thoughts and in which Giana, bit her lip worried that he was angry, "I hadn't realised that she had gone there."

Will was angry but not with his sister. He was angry with himself for all his old prejudices, the fact that he was surprised that she had gone there because of his old belief that Lizzie's family weren't rich enough to afford Cambridge, that she wasn't the 'right sort of person' to have gone there.

"That's not as stupid as not realising that she had written one of your favourite books."

"It wasn't stupid."

"It was but, oh well." She made to leave the room and paused at the door. "You've done plenty of stupid things, like not asking Lizzie Bennet out when you first met her," she left leaving him to stew it over.

Actually, he agreed with his sister, which is why when he left Giana's bedroom he took his phone with him into the library, despite the fact that this was breaking his number one rule of tranquillity in that room.

After several hours of skimming the book, he knew what to do. It wasn't a self help book that Lizzie had written but he had seen that it had helped his sister. He understood a little bit about fear, himself.

He was a relative brave man, many would say. He had, after all been the undisputed spider killer in the house for years. But he was rather nervous he had to admit.

Which is why when he entered the kitchen half an hour later he was feeling slightly cocky with himself. Giana was in there showing a necklace to Lucy Reynolds. His excitement was momentarily paused.

"Where did you get that?" He examined the antique pendant that was shaped into a heart.

"Andrea Gardiner gave it to me. Mum gave it to her years ago but she knew that it had belonged to the family and had thought that I should have it."

"That was nice of her." Will was surprised that she had done that.

"Yes, she did seem like a very charming lady," Lucy agreed as she put a series of potatoes into the oven. "And her husband seemed very nice, too."

Will smiled slightly to himself; James Gardiner was actually quite good looking for his age.

"Oh you should have heard the story of how they met," Giana gushed and then proceeded to tell the tale.

"Oh that's so lovely," Lucy agreed.

"Yes," Will nodded. "And speaking of dates. I just asked out Lizzie Bennet."

*****

A dazed Lizzie walked into her Aunt and Uncle's room in the hotel.

"Lizzie, are you ok?"

"Will Darcy just asked me out."

"Oh."

**So there you are..... There going on a date! And I'm officially on summer break!**

**Please review and hopefully the date will be up sooner. I'll also explain some of the mystery surrounding Giana and Wickham.....**


	19. The Perfect Dateno question mark needed

**Thank you so much to everyone who reviewed. It made me so happy. It's because of you that this chapter is being uploaded at midnight. **

The Perfect Date

(No question mark needed)

"So Will Darcy just asked you out? The same Will Darcy who 'doesn't like you like that'?" Andrea quoted at her niece.

"Yeah," Lizzie still felt a little dazed. Luckily James had gone down to the hotel's library to swap some books for something to read so wasn't involved in this girl talk.

"When are you going out?"

"Tomorrow. He wasn't sure how long we'd be staying in Derbyshire."

"Tomorrow, wow. That doesn't give him or you a lot of time to prepare."

"I know." Lizzie shrugged feeling more nervous by the second, after all this was the _Will Darcy _that she was going out on a date with.

******

"_oh you should have heard the story of how they met."_

These were the only words that Will could think of as he and Giana settled down to watch, coincidentally enough The Mentalist.

He wanted to create the perfect first date. He wanted it to be a first date to remember. Truthfully he wanted it to be his last first date.

But what to do? It had to be memorable that was certain but how was he going to do that? Looking up as Patrick Jane drove into work in his Citroën DS and he remembered the look on Lizzie's face when she had found out that he owned one of those cars he realised that he had sorted out one part of the date; the transport. He could easily sort out the rest.

During the adverts he crept out and began ringing around, ready to kick start his plans into action.

*****

"Will, where are you going? Andrea and Lizzie are going to be here any minute," Giana turned to her brother.

"I know but I've got work to do. Charlie and that lot will be arriving next week, then Richard and then there the ball."

"Ok, but I would have thought that you might want to talk to Lizzie," she sang Lizzie's name a little, teasing him.

"I do, but I have work to do," he insisted. There had been a slight problem within the company, a problem that only he could deal with and he was damned if he was going to let _anything _interrupt his date with Lizzie this evening.

"So you're not going to join us for brunch."

"I can't Georgy," he was annoyed. He would have enjoyed it; he still hadn't had an opportunity to talk to Andrea about his mother but he really did have to work. "Besides, I thought it was going to be a girls thing?"

"Ok then. You are coming on the tour, though? I mean if you don't then you'll have wasted all your time last night making sure that you bike was ride worthy. I half thought that you were going to slash the tires of the spares so that it would be just you and Lizzie riding off into the sunset."

"Nope, that would have been crazy," he shrugged his shoulders and walked off to his study, annoyed that his sister knew him that well that she could guess exactly what he had been thinking.

Minutes after he had locked himself away in his nice, quiet, soundproofed study he found himself staring at the clock, wondering if they had arrived yet. Peering out the window he could see the car creeping up the drive, he longed to open the door and hurry down the stairs and stand next to his sister to greet them but a Ping! sound from his laptop let him know that he had received yet another email for him to sort out.

*****

"Hey, Lizzie and Andrea," Giana was very excited. Not only was Lizzie her friend and Andrea the link with her mum but from the way her brother had been acting it seemed as if he was pretty serious about her. She had longed for her brother to have this type of relationship with anyone for so long.

"Giana," both women spoke at the same time and smiled at each other and her.

"So I was thinking we should eat and then I'll show you the house; it's supposed to be warmer this afternoon so that's when we can do the grounds."

It was actually warm enough at the moment and in Giana's actual opinion it would make sense to tour the grounds before it got too hot or before they got the supposed thunderstorm that was coming their way after days of heat, but if they did the tour in the afternoon it gave her brother an opportunity to clear his schedule and join them.

"So this is the breakfast room." Giana led them into a very ornate long with large mirrors lining it room.

Maybe last year or so it would have surprised her that a house had a 'breakfast' room but since staying with the Bingley's she presumed it was the norm for rich families. The Darcy's was certainly bigger in a grander way than theirs and looked more elegant.

"Wow, how much food are you planning on feeding us?" Lizzie stared at the amount of food that there was on the table.

Giana gave a fake evil laugh. "Aha I'm secretly hoping you'll never leave and that food is the way to temp you. I'm not the only one in this house who thought this was a good idea." She gave Lizzie a smile.

Lizzie promptly blushed. Andrea let out a barking laugh making Lizzie blush even more.

"Where is your brother? I was looking forward to seeing them together." Andrea laughed with Giana and it was clear that they had become close.

Lizzie felt as though she was being picked on, again. First with Andrea and James and now with Andrea and Giana. She wished Will was there so that she could have someone to defend her. Wait a second? What had she just thought? No, she was a feminist she didn't need a man to defend her; she didn't really need anyone. She was just going on a date, a casual thing there was no need to make it anything more. Honestly, if she did she would probably just throw up.

"He has to work today but I think that he's actually making plans for tonight, he was being rather secretive about it."

Lizzie blushed and turned to look out of the window.

Perhaps she noticed that her niece was uncomfortable, prehaps she wanted food but Andrea changed the subject quickly to the summer and what Giana had been doing, where they should visit in Derbyshire and what their own plans were.

The conversation flowed easily until Giana mentioned something that surprised Lizzie.

"So there'll be no more eating like this, next week," Giana moaned as she took a sip of her hot chocolate that they had brought back with them from France.

"Why?" Andrea asked.

"Charlie Bingley and his sisters are arriving. You know what Caroline's like," she gave Lizzie an eye roll. "There won't be a calorie allowed in the house. She only eats water and only if it's from the French alps and has been frozen. Bananas have too many calories for her."

"Sounds like fun," Andrea commented.

"Yeah and Chris isn't even coming anymore."

"Chris? Is that the Chris Bingley I met?" Andrea turned to her niece.

"Yes. Why isn't he coming? When did you hear that?"

"I was emailing him last night." Giana mentally made her note to reread the email he had sent her. He was definitely coming and that had been arranged for ages but he had suddenly pulled out; he was still coming to the Pemberley Ball though. She wished he was coming to stay for longer.

"I think he has a lot of work to do or something like that."

"Yes, he must be clearing his schedule for when he goes travelling with you, Lizzie."

Giana looked up in surprise, part of her had conveniently forgotten about that. She wondered what her brother would think of Lizzie going travelling with Chris for such a long time. Hopefully if everything worked out Lizzie could cancel her plans with Chris and go with Will instead. Giana wanted this for more than one reason even if she wasn't prepare to admit her other reasons to even herself at this stage.

"Oh by the way," she reached over to a side cabinet "these are you invites to the annual Pemberley Ball. We would have sent them to you officially but there didn't seem to be much point given that we were just going to see you today."

Lizzie looked over at Andrea to see if she was as surprised as she was but her Aunt showed no shock on her face. She guessed that they had talked about it the day before.

"The Pemberley ball?"

"Oh of course, you weren't there, yesterday. It's an annual ball we have here every summer- a sort of family tradition. I need you to come," Giana gave Lizzie a pleading look, "I'll just die of boredom otherwise. "

"I don't know Giana. I have nothing to wear and it's kind of late notice to get something," (or at least something that will be considered acceptable by the other people I imagine are going to this ball- nothing under four figures).

"I knew you would say that," Andrea said.

"Which is why," Giana added and Lizzie could tell that they had planned out this conversation. "You should try some of the dresses we have upstairs. Seriously there all designer and I'm sure they would fit you, some of them have barely been warn."

"I can't do that!" Lizzie protested.

"Well I want to see these dresses properly anyway and I know that you do two. I'm also betting that you want to go to this ball anyway. Lots of old dresses, dancing and cocktails," she began pleading, "You know you want to go, if only to rub Caroline's face in it."

Lizzie did love old dresses, and dancing but she wasn't sure that going to the ball was the best idea. She guessed it depended on how the date tonight went. Thinking of it made her stomach flip, slightly as it seemed to have most of the morning, every time Giana spoke about her brother.

******

"Lizzie, I don't care what you say, you have to wear that dress tonight!" Giana insisted.

"You know she's right," Andrea added as Lizzie ummed and arhhed in front of the mirror wearing a stunning (designer) red dress that had formerly belonged to Anna Darcy.

"I can't."

"Of course you can; my brother will just die when he sees you in it."

"Well isn't it all a bit Freudian?"

"Freudian?"

"What, all women marry their fathers? You'd be wearing his mother's dress; it's not exactly the same thing."

"It's still strange," she protested.

"Why is it strange? Because you look amazing and wonderful and as though the dress was designed for you? Look I know it might seem weird but I seriously doubt that my mum ever even wore it. You're just looking for an excuse,"Giana insisted.

"Do you not think it's a bit o.t.t?" Lizzie turned to look at her back again.

"Not for where he's planning on taking you," Giana said coyly. Whilst Andrea and Lizzie had looked around at the portrait gallery, Giana's bedroom and at lot of Anna Darcy's old possession (something Andrea was particularly interested in seeing) Giana had snuck into the study to talk to her brother.

"Ohh where's he taking her?" Andrea was, in Lizzie's opinion, far too interested in her niece's love life.

"Kedleston Manor."

"oh-er," Andrea raised her eyebrows in surprise.

"It is fancy?" Lizzie asked worried. "Like really fancy?" she had a faint suspicion that Will was going to take her to a place that would serve food that she had never even heard of.

"No it's not," Andrea vaguely remembered the place. "I mean it's a nice place but not ridiculously fancy."

"Seriously Lizzie, he's spent so long analyzing where to take you, I know you'll love it. You have to have the ribs there, they are amazing."

******

'Right so, have the ribs, the ribs are good,' Lizzie chanted to herself. 'Don't tough your hair, it looks great. No the dress isn't wrong, you look perfect. It'll all be fine. He's planned this for ages." Lizzie was too busy reciting everything Giana and Andrea had told her in the past few hours to notice Will arriving.

Will was picking her up a six thirty for an early dinner from the hotel and Giana hadn't even had an opportunity to show Lizzie and Andrea around the house, the two women had been so busy dressing Lizzie. Andrea suspected, correctly, that Giana hadn't shown them round because her brother was too tied up in work and wanted to show Lizzie around the house, himself.

"Hello," Will Darcy stepped into the foyer of the hotel.

*****

Maybe, just maybe the title of this chapter was thought up slightly too hastily. Perhaps the question mark should have been used. It had all started so well.

"Hi," Lizzie answered overcome, suddenly with shyness.

"You look beautiful," he smiled at her, staring at her in wonderment. She really did look amazing. Her hair twisting around the side of her face, falling over one shoulder until it met a simple strapped red dress that fitted her body exactly.

"Um, this is for you," he held forward a bright purple Gerber Daisy with a simply tied ribbon wrapped around it.

"Oh thank you." She followed him to the car park where she saw, with a little jolt of excitement that he had brought his Citroën DS.

He opened the passenger door for her and on the front seat was a rose wrapped up in expensive cellophane.

"Oh um, you weren't supposed to see that," Will hastily picked up the rose and shoved it in the back seat. "I couldn't decide on which one to pick." She looked up at him, smiling at his nervous expression in the fading summer light.

"I think you made the right decision. Roses are much too common."

"Two common?" he stared at her.

"I don't really like that type of clichéd stuff I guess, roses, chocolates, champagne and all that."

"Good to know. That information will definitely come in useful some time, "he spoke in a cocky tone and she now realised that he had now returned to the old fashioned Darcy that she had known before. The strange thing was, it made her smile.

"Oh do you?"

"I do." He started his car, with a slight roar of the engine. "I love this car."

"Yeah?"

"I never really get to drive it, much. It's a pretty great car." He wondered, briefly if it sounded as though he was bragging.

"Voted the most beautiful car in the world," Lizzie muttered slightly under her breath, "exhibited in the Metropolitan Museum of Art."

"Wow," Will turned to her, "You're a car geek. I never expected that."

"I'm not!" she protested. He looked at her sceptically. "I'm really not; I'm much more of an art geek."

He laughed. "And you consider a car art?"

"Yes, well more so than a sawed in half cow." She was referring to Damien Hirst's Mother and Child which featured parts of sliced mother and calf preserved in formaldehyde.

"I suppose, "he nodded, "But you have to admit that it was quite interesting to see the complexity of nature and to experience it properly by walking through it. Couldn't you argue that all nature is art? Or more artistic than a lump of metal designed to get people from a to b?"

"Certainly. Nature is art, but that's just not natural!"

"So if I were to take a photo of something that is 'not natural' such as a city as many 'artists' have and display it, would that not be art?"

"Well.... yes it would but it's not the same thing! There's no skill involved in sawing a cow in half. I bet he didn't even do it himself!"

Will could see the trap that she had just walked into... "Where is the skill involved in clicking a button, on a camera?"

"Well," she paused trying to think about it, "it's all about lining up the shot and the lighting and framing of the photo- the texture and all that."

Will decided he was going to be as difficult as possible. It was fun debating with her, getting to know her opinion which in truth was very similar to his and he wasn't, well he hoped he wasn't, being a total arse about it as he had been before but was actually listening to her.

"So if I spend hours lining up my photo, waiting for the right shot, the right light, the right moment, if I even develop the photo myself does that mean that my photo is as good as a Picasso or a Da Vinci?"

She gave him a look that let him know that she knew what his own opinions were and that he had led her into a corner. "No it doesn't."

"But you just said."

"I know what I just said but I also know what I mean and there's far more skill involved in painting a painting than taking a photo."

He gave her a look.

"Fine, fine. You got me! I'm not just an Art Geek, I'm also an Art Snob!"

He laughed again and Lizzie realised she was becoming more and more attracted to that sound. "Well, the first step is admitting it. Personally I agree with you completely." He pulled the break on the car and they were parked up.

"Where are we?" She frowned at him this didn't look like the sort of place that an exclusive restaurant would have. She was starting to feel nervous again, during the banter between the two she hadn't concentrated on the fact that she was on a date with Will Darcy but now she realised.

It was, she decided, a good sort of nervous similar to when you were anticipating something life changing but good that was happening soon.

"We're going to the restaurant- Kedleston Manor- didn't Giana tell you?" he pretended to not understand why she was confused.

"This is a river."

"So you have observance skills as well as argumentative skills?"

"Seriously, what are we doing here?"

He didn't answer but instead walked in front of her towards a little hut-like building. Confused, Lizzie followed him.

"Ah Mr Darcy," an old man wearing what looked like fishing sort of gear led them round to the side of the hut where there were a series of rowing boats lying on the river one of which had a series of light stung up. "As you can see we're all ready for you and have followed your instructions."

Will nodded, shook the man's hand and then turned to an incredulous Lizzie to help her get in.

"We're going by boat?" She couldn't believe that Will Darcy had come up with an idea like this. Will Darcy who she had always thought as rather practical and conventional. It was clear that she was wrong.

His proud smile faltered, "Unless you don't want to, I mean there is a route by road, I just thought..."

"No, no, no, it's fabulous," she stepped into the boat. "Ooh," it wobbled far more than she had expected it too and she reached out, flaying her arms wildly. Will grabbed her easing her into the boat, enjoying the feeling of her arm beneath his.

"Are you ok?" he made sure that she was sitting comfortably and that she was warm with only a thin dark red, silky wrap before he climbed into the boat and picked up the oars. Lizzie stared at him in surprise; he guessed that he was going to have to get used that expression on her face given the night that he had planned.

"Do you even know how to row?"

"Yes, actually, I do," he pretended to be insulted.

And it was clear that he did know how to. Lizzie would have been totally lost, she had been once many years ago and could only remember how heavy the oars had been. Well, obviously Will was very strong given the speed they were travelling through the water. She wondered if he had a six pack. As he turned his neck to look behind him, down the river she wondered and partially hoped that she would get to see it.

After much too short a time, Lizzie had enjoyed watching him work, just watching him at all without talking as he concentrated on rowing in the fading light, they arrived at another mooring spot ready to go to presumably the restaurant.

As he was tying up the boat, Will felt something suspicious by his leg. Yes, his phone was vibrating.

"I'm sorry; I just have to take this. I'm really sorry," he was aware of how bad it looked to take a phone in the middle of a date but he knew how critical this conversation could be.

"Its fine," she smiled at him. Giana had stressed throughout the day how busy her brother was, some emergency work thing that had come up, a new drug that they were developing was finished far sooner than expected and had been given approval but was not selling well or was selling too well. Apparently it was very complicated and involved lots of conference calls, emails, stock prices, lawyers and a whole load of useless people flapping around.

Yes they certainly were useless people, Will thought as he frowned and sighed into his phone and told the person on the other end that he was not to be contacted again unless it was a real emergency. This did not stop them emailing him twice by the time they had walked from the boat jetty to the restaurant.

"So what made you think of a boat?"

"Oh," he blushed slightly, "My sister. She mentioned, ages ago about some film every girl supposedly loves- The Notebook. Somebody rows in that, apparently."

"Ah yes, The Notebook. The ultimate chick flick romance. Hits almost every cliché in the book, rich girl, poor boy, evil mother separates them, kissing in the rain."

"Well they did say that there was a risk of a storm this evening." Will winked at her.

Lizzie looked up in shock again, he was acting so carefree.

"Sorry, I uh can't believe that I said that," Will felt mortified, he had tried to go for some smooth, suave line and ended up sounding like a prat. He was sure that Chris Bingley would have been able to pull it off. "I sounded like Nigel Collins, didn't I?" Well if I'm going to be an idiot I might as well laugh at myself.

She nodded and smiled slightly but he noticed that it did not fill her face as it had before.

Great, I scared her; she probably thinks that I'm totally insane and that I moving far too quickly just like I did last time, he groaned to himself.

Lizzie was, slightly, hoping that it would happen. She loved thunderstorms and the idea of kissing someone during one seemed ideal and she had yet to have that opportunity. She also didn't really want to admit these feelings to herself, yet she wasn't even admitting that admission to herself. Yes there was some very complex over analysis of the situation from both parties going on.

They entered the restaurant which was rather fancy but seemed like it had a nice ambiance. Will held out her chair for her and she saw the elderly woman in the table next to theirs whispering to her husband something along the lines of 'young love'.

Lizzie examined the menu, calculating it to a similar way that MI5 would calculate whether to storm a building with a dozen hostages in.

Ok, so the ribs are good, right, you like ribs Lizzie, you normally have them at home but it would be nice to have them at a proper restaurant.

'You can't have ribs, what on earth are you thinking girl!' a voice that seemed to sound an awfully lot like her maternal grandmother who was very proper and expected girls to have standards and act in a certain manner. 'Do you know what you will look like? Do you have any idea what he will think of you? Yes, gorging yourself on food and getting it all around your face is the way to impress a man, isn't it?

Screw the world, you're Elizabeth Josephine Marie Bennet! If you want ribs, you should damn well have ribs. Do you really care what a _man _thinks of you? Call yourself a feminist! Do you really want to be with the sort of man who cares about things like that?

Yes, but this is an expensive restaurant and I could have ribs at any old time. Besides, do I really like them, that much.

'Yes, that's the thinking girl, go for something else. No... don't have the salad have you read the description it has spinach in it. Have you ever met anyone who could eat spinach without getting at least some of it in their teeth. No! Thought not.

"Elizabeth, are you ready to order." She looked up to see the waiter standing there waiting with a pad.

"Oh, yes, I'll have the pork with the apple and port sauce."

'Ahh, good girl,' it was definitely her grandmother's voice. Lizzie glanced guiltily at her nails, in case the red nail varnish which Francis Gardiner would most certainly not approve off, telling Elizabeth that she would look like a prostitute, was chipped. It wasn't, but had it been, Lizzie would have half expected her Grandmother to rise from the grave to yell her, the voice seemed that real.

"I'm terribly sorry madam but we've run out of the pork."

"Are you sure?" Darcy asked and Lizzie half expected him to slip the guy a twenty the way that he was acting. "Could you check, please?"

The waiter returned minutes later to inform them that he had checked and they were definitely out of duck.

"I'll have the uh..." she scanned the menu again, "I'll have the ribs then."

"An excellent decision the waiter smiled and took their menus."

'Yes, an excellent decision if you want to end up an old maid who dies at fifty from eating too many microwave dinner with no one discovering the body for months until it's been half eaten by your cats."

'Take that Grandma!' this seemed like Anne Hathaway's voice; it definitely had an American twang. "Seriously you have got to stop listening to that woman! You always let her clout your judgement."

"So," Will spoke allowing Lizzie a chance to reprieve herself from going mad with all the voices going on and on in her head.

"So,"

There was a pause.

"Do you come here often?"

"No, not really. I mean I'm in New York or London for a lot of the year and when I'm here it's for Christmas or with Giana or Charlie so we don't eat out a lot at these types of places."

"Oh, ok," she nodded and they both grinned at each other suddenly aware of how stiff this conversation was.

"Can I ask you something?" Lizzie started but then realised that she couldn't do that; she didn't even need the voice of her grandmother to tell her that.

"Sure."

"It doesn't matter, really."

"Ok," he eyed her suspiciously but then his phone went off, again. He sighed, but knew that he had to take it and so left with another look of apology.

Lizzie was slightly relieved that he had left, she had been planning on approaching the subject of whether Giana knew about their past. She wanted to know why he had asked her out given all that had happened between the two of them.

Will returned just as the waiter arrived with their food.

"I'm really sorry about that."

"It's fine."

"It's not, I should have cancelled this date."

"Oh." Lizzie wasn't sure how to process that information.

"No, no, no," he added hurriedly catching the look on her face, "I didn't want to at all, I really didn't, I also didn't want to leave you like this, sitting alone in a restaurant."

"Its fine," and it was, she could see the look on his face how sorry he was.

"It's not. I feel like an arse."

"Well don't, there's no reason to. I understand you're busy at work." Lizzie could tell that he was, she had counted the number of times he had reached for his pocket to check his email.

"But I was. I wanted to talk to you about that actually. Since we're starting over again I should explain a few things."

She looked at him curiously, realising that she hadn't eaten yet and so took a bite. Giana had been right, they did taste good.

"About the Chris situation." There was a pause, "I could have told him what was going on. I mean I wasn't really supposed to at all, it was quite a high security level but I could have done. I guess the real reason is that I was jealous and I wanted Chris to struggle a bit."

He was jealous? Was she going to get another strange confession of love? Was that why he was talking so quickly?

"See I grew up with Chris and Charlie. I mean at that age Richard lived nearby, and he Charlie and I, we must have been around eleven used to play together all the time. We never used to let him play with us, he was Charlie's younger brother and annoying. You know how you can be at that age. There was another boy, who lived nearby, George, George Wickham but he was younger than Chris and always quite annoying."

Lizzie looked at him in surprise and slightly worried. She remembered what his reaction had been to George Wickham yet he was talking in a strange tone. It was almost as if he was telling someone else's story, as though he had not been involved his voice was so emotionless.

"My father always liked George. They shared the same name. George always knew how to act around people. George did not come in with his clothes ripped or grass stained. "There was a slight hint of bitterness in his voice, "Which is why he set up a trust for him. George had bad asthma and his family were poor, my father liked to think that he was helping out. "

There was a pause as he took a mouthful of his risotto and Lizzie took a bit, still nervous.

"After my mother died, George had a bad asthma attack. He was in hospital. I think it worried my dad, you know after my mum was ill, she had cancer and Georgy was so little, that everyone around him was ill and so we started to see a lot more of the Wickhams, spend time with them."

He was speaking in a very matter of fact manner. Had it been anyone else, Lizzie would have loved to have analyzed this character, what it meant with the way he was telling this obvious major event in his life in this total dead pan way- very similar to a new reader talking about the death of thousands of people.

"My father died when I was 16, a plane crash."

She stared at him in amazement, now realising why he had been so freaked out on that plane back from Ireland. She wondered how on earth he managed to fly backwards and forwards from New York to London but she sensed now was not the time to ask questions.

"It was a private plane, he was out with a friend for a trial run. My Uncle took over the company for awhile until I was old enough to inherit. I did about 16 months later when I was 18. I didn't really see George much, I was working at the company and going to Cambridge. I knew that he was seeing Giana a lot, at the time I was grateful. "

They were interrupted by the waiter asking if they needed anything. They replied in the negative.

"I guess it was around the time Georgy was sixteen when I found out that they were dating. I wasn't thrilled, she was my baby sister and he was quite a bit older but I'd never really heard anything about him that he suggested he was bad for her. Sure he was quite quiet, maybe a little nerdy but nothing actually wrong with him just slightly annoying."

She noticed that his demeanour had changed. He seemed to be embarrassed, he was speaking in a hushed voice and he was less emotionally detached.

"I was glad, actually, I mean if she had found someone then it would be easier for me. I was given a chance to be young again. I never resented Georgiana at all but it was my first time to go into the city and get absolutely smashed without having to worry about getting home on time or what Giana would think. I could work late hours, stay overnight in London without ringing home, you know."

Lizzie took another bite but didn't savour the flavour as much anymore.

"It was stupid of me, so stupid, really. I was going to be at home for the summer, here in Pemberley. I hadn't seen Giana in awhile, we we're speaking and emailing but I guess we were both busy. Charlie and Chris were also coming down." His voice was tinged with guilt.

"I should have realised, I'll always blame myself for that." He paused, briefly and then carried on reverting back to his old stiff manner. "Chris arrived early. Chris realised there was something wrong with her. Chris got her to talk to him."

"What was wrong?" Lizzie had to ask now that she had found her voice.

"Wickham, Wickham had been hitting her when he was angry or drunk or whatever...." His voice shook with anger.

Lizzie stared in shock, she put her hand over her mouth.

"Not often, apparently, well that's what she told Chris but...."

"Oh my god."

"I'll never understand why she didn't tell someone, anyone straight away. I think she liked the idea of this great passion, the romance. I have no doubt that he lied to her and made her doubt herself. I've read books on it; they always pick those with lower self esteem or those who are alone. She was so isolated at Pemberley. I should have been there. "

It was with this last sentence that Lizzie caught the true air of self disgust in his voice.

"You couldn't have done anything more."

"I could have done. I could have been there; been like Chris. He was so great with Georgy, afterwards. He taught her self-defence, made sure that her door had a lock, taught her not to be afraid. What did I do? I made a couple of calls to a bank to sort out a trust fund and called the police. That's all that I could do, check his background- I discovered that he was involved in drugs and then rang Cambridge and got him expelled. It wasn't enough. Giana didn't want to press charges and there wasn't enough of case- she was never hospitalized."

"There was nothing else that you could have done," she reached forward and touched his hand lightly.

This sudden contact with another human made him realise what he had just done. He never spoke of this. There was no one he could really talk to it about. As grateful as he was to Chris, and he was exceptionally grateful he wished that he had never had to become involved. It was too difficult a topic to approach with Richard or Charlie and so he had just let it fester under the surface.

"May,be but it never felt like enough. That's why I always see like I have an issue with Chris. He did what I should have done. Chris is a great guy. He's always been the great relaxed guy who gets everything to go his own way and maybe I wanted for once for it not to be completely perfect for him. Pretty screwed up, right?"

He gave her a small smile to which she didn't respond. He could see that she was still mulling over everything that had happened.

"Sorry, I guess I really ruined the atmosphere, huh? It's just Giana thought that you should know but she also didn't want to tell you herself."

"I won't tell anyone," her mind was reeling.

"I never thought you would." Another long pause. " You know you're not really supposed to eat ribs like that." He saw that she hadn't eaten much and was using her knife and fork and he desperately wanted to change the atmosphere, wishing that he had never brought the subject up.

"May I?" he paused ready to reach across to take a rib from her plate.

"Sure," she smiled at him.

He used his fingers and carefully ate the meat, licking his lips when he had done in a loud, comical fashion.

She followed what he had done but not quite as successfully as he had done.

"So are your crab cakes good?"

"Uh yeah it tastes really good." Will wasn't sure how to tell Lizzie that she had sauce all around her mouth. "You should try some."

"That would be nice. I just have to get rid of the taste of rib." She took a sip of water and then wiped her mouth, mortified when she saw the brown traces of source on her napkin that had obviously been around her mouth.

She was leaning across the table to stretch her folk to taste a little bit of the food when the candle which had been steadily burning lower and lower flicked in the wind and caught her hair. The hair that Giana had recommended she wore all to one side. It was just in that slight moment, the simplest fact that the waiter had pushed the candle to the side when he bought the dishes out, but her hair when catching the flame caught fire at an unbelievable rate.

Will panicked, he couldn't believe this, this was the worst date he had ever been on, what he was going to do.

Lizzie panicked, not only was her hair on fire, she was in Anna Darcy's dress, what was she going to do.

The waiter certainly panicked and grabbed the nearest ice bucket, proceeded to dump the contents over Lizzie's head.

This all took about three seconds.

"Ahh shit!" Lizzie jumped up against the cold water.

"I'm sorry, I really am, really sorry," The waiter started to fuss around her.

"Are you ok?" Will had stood up and moved nearer to her.

"I'm fine." She felt her hair, it was barely singed the flames had been bigger than thought. She was now incredibly embarrassed.

"Shall we go?" He saw how flushed her cheeks were becoming. "We don't have to, I just thought..."

"Yes let's go," she nodded in agreement.

He paid the bill and they left the restaurant aware that everyone was looking at them and stepped out into the night's air which had cooled considerably. Will had concentrated on getting Lizzie away from people's stares and then he went back to pick up his jacket and her bag.

Lizzie shivered slightly; the water had been cold and was all over her. Will immediately took off his jacket and handed it to her.

"No I can't," she protested.

"Of course you can."

They walked back in silence but it was a comfortable silence to where they had left the boat. Will had told her that it was a chain company that owned a string of docking ports along the river so that people didn't have to return the boat to the same place.

When they arrived though, it was clear that this system was flawed as there were no rowing boats floating on the water. Confused, Will went to speak to someone. Lizzie could hear him disagreeing with the man.

"But I specifically said that I needed a boat for a whole night! This is ridiculous."

"Well we ain't got any boats in right nah." The man seemed to have a very strong Birmingham accent. "You're just going havta wait."

Scowling Will joined Lizzie to sit on the bench. They were both a little unsure about how to react to this date that was not going at all as planned.

It was cold. They were both hungry. And Lizzie was injured, slightly. It had all been planned to go so smoothly but this all had the makings of going really sour really quickly. Will was determined to not let that happen. Looking over he saw a crepe van parked up. The lights were not on but he was going to change that.

"I'm going to get us some food. If anyone comes with a boat, do not let anyone take it out again, ok?"

Lizzie nodded, surprised at how animated he was suddenly.

Will ran over to the van and banged on the window, repeatedly.

"Yes," a grumpy, tall middle aged man opened the side window.

"I need two crepes please, lemon and sugar and maple syrup."

"We're closed." He pointed to the side where a sign hung.

"Two hundred pounds says you're not."

The man raised an eyebrow and then opened the window all the way and started cooking. Two minutes later he was walking back to Lizzie with two crepes.

"How did you do that?" She was surprised and actually rather hungry.

"I have my ways."

They had just finished eating the crepes; Lizzie had chosen the traditional lemon and sugar when another boat arrived. Hoping that the next part of his plan would go more successfully Will helped Lizzie into it.

"Where are we going? This isn't the way we went before."

"You didn't think the date was over, did you? Really? This early? No I have much more planned."

"Oh." Why couldn't she think of something more intelligent to say? It seemed she had been talking dribble the whole evening.

Will Darcy wasn't actually that much of a talker. At least not on a first date. That was not to say that he was unsociable. He just found that so much of conversation was made in society, quite pointlessly and if he was going to speak he felt that it should be meaningful.

Lizzie, who had always seen herself as a talker was actually enjoying this time. For starters she could see far more of his chest and his muscles now that he wasn't wearing a jacket. It also gave them a chance, when they needed to talk to 'really' talk. They knew each other relatively well so there was no point in asking all the simple questions such as 'Do you have any brother or sisters?'.

His phone went off again breaking the relaxed silence. Annoyed he dug out of his pocket and pulled out the battery before tossing it into the river next to him.

Lizzie stared at him in amazement.

"I've always wanted to do that. I'm sorry it's been ringing so much."

"You know, technically it's more effective if you throw the whole phone in. That's what they always do in the films."

"Yeah but I could never do that, I've got so much stored on my sim card. It would be terribly wasteful."

She nodded smiling again at this never ending change in his character and saw that they had almost arrived at another stopping destination.

It was as they were mooring up the boat for the second time that the second tragedy of the evening occurred. Or was it the third- was the non arrival of the boat a tragedy? Well these things did normally travel in threes.

The light was fading fast and although the side of the river was lit, it was still difficult to see. The third spot that they could leave the boat had a series of tall trees that grew down to the water's edge with their long roots disappearing into the water.

It was over one of these roots that Lizzie-who was wearing rather high heeled strappy sandals –fell over. And hurt herself. Rather badly. She tried to hide it, but Will could see that she'd done some serious damage to it.

"I'm fine," she said in response to his questioning, caring look but she was wincing as she said it.

"You're not. Can you walk at all?"

"Yes, seriously it's no bother;" She cautiously put her weight on her ankle and when nothing terrible happened, said brightly, "So what's the next part?"

"Well," Will began but then lunged forward to catch Lizzie as her ankle buckled beneath her. He looked at it and saw the swelling. "C'mon." He led her to a bench and turned his back to her.

"What?"

"Get on," he held out his arms ready to carry her in a piggybacked fashion.

"Will, you can't! I way too much," Lizzie couldn't believe him!

"No, you don't, c'mon."

After only a little more protesting Lizzie climbed on his back and they set off. Will still hadn't told her where they were going which is why she was very surprised when they crossed a bridge to discover that they were actually very near the hotel where she was staying. She wondered if this was where he was planning on taking her but he took a left off the bridge and turned in the opposite direction.

Two minutes later, she heard jazz music and saw series of fairy lights and lamps hanging in the bushes. As they rounded the final corner, walking slightly slower than when they had first set off, she saw the couples dancing.

"Dancing?" She slid down his back and turned to face him, incredulous, "You were going to take me dancing? You hate dancing."

"I don't hate dancing, at all. In fact with the right person it can be perfectly wonderful," he looked at her earnestly.

"So why wouldn't you dance all those months ago at the dance?"

"I danced with you then!" he protested knowing that this would happen.

"Not that dance, the one before."

"Oh well, I was in a horrible mood and an idiot and surrounded by crazy people after a long day's work."

She raised an eyebrow.

"I'm sorry," he got down on his knees and pretended to plead with her, "I thought you might like it, obviously if I was wrong."

She laughed. "I love it, you idiot." She looked down at her ankle, "I just can't dance, tonight. We'll have to do it again, sometime." She wished she could do it now but her ankle was really throbbing.

"The bands only here tonight, there having some celebration with fireworks but we can always dance at the Pemberley Ball. You are coming?" He asked, "With me?" he added and then seconds later wished he hadn't.

"After a date like this? How can a girl possibly say no?" She genuinely meant that.

He let out a breath, clearly relieved.

"So when are these fireworks?"

"Not for another hour or two."

"Oh," she was disappointed; she was too cold and needed to take something for her ankle, otherwise she would have liked to stay.

"I'll take you back to your hotel." Will was disappointed as well but this seemed like the most sensible conclusion to this disastrous date.

"Thank you." She added, somewhat shyly. "Not just for that but for everything."

It would turn out that the firework display was cancelled. The thunderstorm warning that had been predicted actually happened just as they reached the foyer of the hotel. It's not as though the pair would have noticed fireworks as they ran inside as the heavens opened- they were too busy making fireworks of their own as they kissed each other goodnight.

**So I needed a little bit of mush but I also wanted some actual conversation which is why they need to talk to each other and interact a little which is why I added the art scene. **

**I wasn't sure if the bit where Lizzie was trying to pick a meal worked. I remember an article that said ribs was one of the worst foods to eat on a date, and there was a similar scene in a play I wrote that worked well but I wasn't so sure on paper. **

**I know the hair fire thing is slightly weird, but it did happen to a friend of mine, not on a date at a party but still..... I wanted to explore the idea of lots of things going wrong and how they would cope. I know at times it might have seen a bit too like a film or a bit cheesy/ cliché but sometimes I think those works. It is fiction after all and doesn't have to be really natural**

**I tried to update as soon as possible so there may be a few mistakes or details that might be confusing. I'm going away for a couple of days so have no internet access but I will try to reply to any questions **


	20. Llainfairpwll

**Thank you for your reviews! I'm glad you liked the date. Recently got back from Wales which is what this chapter is named after. Big Cwtch (hug) to everyone who's reviewed and read. **

Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysilogogogoch

Llanfairpwll

Lizzie sighed as she stuck her key card in her door slot machine for the third time. And for the third time the light remained red instead of going green. She turned the card around, again and becoming frustrated shoved against the door with all her might. Which was why she was rather surprised when the door opened.

"So how was it?" Andrea was sitting on the bed and bouncing, excitedly clearly waiting for Lizzie.

"Shit!" Lizzie jumped into the air in shock.

"Oh, was it now?" Andrea pretended in mock sympathy; she knew what her niece had been referring to and she got up off the chair and helped her pick up her handbag. "Gosh, what happened to you ankle?"

"My ankle?" Lizzie looked down at her ankle and saw that there was a very large purple bruise on her ankle from when she had fallen. "Oh I think I twisted it when I came out of the boat. I didn't think that it would have bruised that badly, though." She frowned at her ankle.

"You twisted it coming out of the..... boat?"

"Yes, we went on a boat along the river."

Andrea's eyes widened. "Tell me everything."

*******

"So, how did it go?" Giana had driven up in the Citroën DS at the arranged spot where they had planned to meet to see her brother smiling a great goofy grin.

"Let me drive." Will trusted his sister to a reasonable degree behind the wheel, given that she hadn't had her licence long but there was no way he was going to let her drive his baby- his Citroën DS. Tonight had been a special occasion, given the date and he had needed to be picked up but otherwise he would have never let her behind the wheel.

"Wiiiilllllll," she complained. "First I had to drive out here in the middle of the night to pick you up and now you won't even let me drive!

"Georgy," he gave her a look knowing that her childish nickname would bug her.

"William." It was clear she was playing that game as well.

"Georgiana, it's my car."

"Fitzwilliam, I'm doing you a favour!"

"You offered."

"So! I'm still doing you a favour."

"I tell you what you let me drive and I'll tell you about my date."

"Fine," she huffed, she knew that her brother would never allow her to drive his precious car and that he would actually spend hours arguing about it even though it was still drizzling slightly after the thunderstorm than give into her. But, by holding out she had the opportunity to gain something.

Grumbling slightly she climbed out of the car and handed him the keys before climbing into the passenger seat.

"So what happened?" she asked eagerly leaning forward.

"Nope, not telling you." Will was still grinning in that strange goofy matter.

" Will," she began whining but then paused, "So..." she wasn't sure what to say, "How good a kisser is Lizzie?" There was no way that _that _had happened but it would be interesting to see his reaction. Which was certainly not what she had expected. Instead of turning away from her and changing the subject he blush bright red, gazed out of the window on his right and started to stutter and clear his throat.

"What?" Her eyes widened at him. "You kissed her?"

"Georgy," he began wearily and then was caught by a glare, "Sorry Giana. Let's not talk about this now."

"But you promised!"

"And I lied. That does happen occasionally."

"No fair," she huffed again and he laughed at the ridiculous expression on her face.

*****

"Oh that sounds perfect!" Andrea cooed. "By the way what happened to your hair?"

It was strange, Lizzie had told Andrea all the details of the date after she had caught her breath when Andrea had given the scare of a lifetime. James had gone down to the gym and Andrea had used Lizzie's spare key to get in so they had plenty of time for girl talk. Yes, Lizzie had given all the details yet she hadn't explained exactly what had gone wrong. She was sure that it would have been an amusing anecdote but she wasn't so sure that she wanted it to become an anecdote just yet.

"Oh um nothing, I'll talk about it later."

"So you kissed?"

"Yes." Lizzie's voice was small.

"What was it like?" Andrea loved this feeling that she was of a similar age to her niece. It gave her the opportunity to be young again and live vicariously through her niece.

"Um...," she blushed not sure how to respond. "Good?"

"Really?" Andrea raised her eyebrows.

"Yes." And then both of them looked at each other for a moment and then burst into infectious laughter.

******

At the time it had seemed like a fun thing to do; throw your battery in the river and not have to deal with all the phone calls that are coming your way whilst you're on an important date. Avoiding responsibility was always fun but Will Darcy should have known that it would catch up with him.

"No, no, no. That price is completely ridiculous!"

"Have you seen the market Steve, have you? Then you ought to be aware of what is acceptable."

"No absolutely not."

"Yes, are you crazy? Of course I'm serious."

The scary part was that this was all being spoken into three different phones by an extremely frustrated Will Darcy who was growing more and more annoyed.

An hour later, when he had sorted this later glitch in the company he then had to sort out a glitch in the Pemberley Ball arrangements. They had been sorted months ago but now it seemed that the company that they were making a lot of the arrangements with had lost them. This was particularly irritating as this was his one chance to show off to the world. The Pemberley Ball was a private affair, not seen in the socialite high society magazines but it was still a highlight of the company's year. Everyone came.

"20,000 wine glasses? No of course we didn't order that. What on earth am I going to do with a wedding cake? It's a ball?" He stormed across the hall of Pemberley not noticing that Lizzie was standing there, smiling in hello. With not even a nod, or word of hello he walked across and slammed the door to the drawing room behind him.

Lizzie wasn't entirely sure what to think. She'd had a good time last night and thought that he had too, so when he had said to her to come by Pemberley at 9'o clock when Giana would be out so that she could see the house properly, she had arrived promptly looking forward to spending more time with him.

She had arrived and been let in by a butler only to find the hall empty. It seemed that no one was about and Will seemed to be ignoring her. Not entirely sure what to so, whether to follow Will or stand in the hallway, Lizzie froze hovered in between the two. She was supposed to be meeting her Aunt at twelve o'clock before they went to see some mountain thing, Lizzie wasn't sure what. Her Aunt and Uncle were currently in the Derbyshire shopping district taking a last look around as they were due to leave soon. This was all information that Will didn't as yet know.

Lizzie stood in the hall for another five minutes or so standing around awkwardly looking at her watch or gazing at the few pictures that hung there, before she started towards the door that Will had gone through and pushed it slightly.

She saw him standing by the window, his back turned away from her, shoulders tense still yelling down the phone. Again he didn't notice her.

With a small sigh of regret she closed the door and pulled a pan and pad out of her handbag. Writing a brief message about how she could see that he was busy and leaving her mobile and the hotel phone number and saying that she would try to contact him later, she left it by the door so that he would see it as soon as he opened the door and then she turned and left.

She was disappointed but she didn't want to be. She knew that he was busy and that work was stressing him out buts she really wanted him to abandon everything for her. It was incredibly demanding and un-feminist of her but still. He had been so unbelievably romantic and so not what she had expected last night but she knew it was unreasonable for her to expect him to be like that all the time.

She had not gone far when she was interrupted by a cry and she saw Giana sitting atop a large black mare.

"Lizzie," she called but not loudly so as not to scare the horse. "What are you doing here?"

Her brother had deliberately not told her that he had arranged for Lizzie to stop by today whilst she was out horse riding as a purely selfish act; he wanted Lizzie all to himself for once. It seemed that apart from last night she had been surrounded by other people and, well, he wasn't sure when she was leaving but pretty soon Charlie and that would be arriving soon and then there would be no chance for them to be alone.

"I was supposed to be meeting your brother for a tour."

"Well I think he's in the study if you're looking for him."

"I think he's busy, actually. So I guess that I'll see him some other time. We're coming to the ball and I think we're here tomorrow as well, in Derbyshire I mean," she added hastily in case Giana thought that she was being too pushy in coming to Pemberley too often, "I suppose it'll depend on Andrea and James and their plans."

"Look I'll just go and talk to him; you stay here and look after Kezzie here," she slid off the horse easily and handed the reins to her.

"Really Giana, it's no bother."

"It certainly is. I won't be half a second." Giana certainly hopes that her brother wasn't too busy; he would certainly be annoyed with himself if he missed her before she went. She found him in the drawing room with papers all around him, looking extremely stressed.

"Will, you do know Lizzie's outside, don't you?"

"What?" He looked up from the papers that he was holding.

"Lizzie's outside. You were supposed to give her a tour."

"What?" It had completely escaped his mind. "No, no, no that's not today!" He thought again and then realised that it obviously had to be today.

"Well she's going tomorrow, isn't she?" Giana stared at the mess surrounding the Drawing room.

"What?" He ran out of the room, still trailing paper to where he saw Lizzie petting and stoking Kezzie on her nose.

"Leaving without telling me, huh?"

"Oh so now I get a hello, do I?" she turned to him.

He ran his hand through his hair, "I'm sorry, really sorry it's just I'm very busy."

"It's ok," she was trying to be as casual as possible despite the fact that her heart was beating so loudly she was afraid that he would hear. "I saw that you were busy.

"Well I'm not," Yes, that was a lie but who even cared, anymore? He might regret it later but who wanted to think about later when there was a chance to spend time with Lizzie Bennet right now?

"Are you sure?" She frowned not wanting to distract him from important work yet at the same time pleased that she could be a distraction.

"Yes, let's start the tour. I'll just get Giana to deal with Kezzie, here." He ran inside not wanting to waste a minute and got his sister.

"G- Can you deal with Kezzie? Then can you ring Richard and get him to come here sooner. He's due the week after next but I need him here sooner." If they had two people from the company in the same place it might make thing easier. At the ball there would be a lot of influential people there and Richard knew how to work with people but only if he had the relevant information. "Also could you, and I don't want to ask too much, could you try to stay out of the way as much as possible?"

"What so you can take Lizzie up to your bedroom and rodger her senseless?" She asked with a teasing grin.

"Rodger?Do you have to be quite so crude?" Sometimes, Will couldn't believe how tacky his sister was.

"Fine, fine. Shag her senseless then."

He knew or he hoped that she was joking about with this fun, more approachable version of himself and knew that the only way to do this properly was to get back at her. "Well if everything goes ok, who knows- maybe you'll be fixing your own dinner..... and breakfast." With a wink he left his sister who called out after him.....

"Ewww Will. There are just some things a girl doesn't need to know."

Grinning still, he joined Lizzie who had heard a very small part of what the two siblings had said. "What was that all about?"

"Oh, um," he wasn't sure how to explain it to her and hated the thought that she might think that he'd been talking about her behind her back or making vulgar jokes. "Just stupid stuff."

"Sure." Knowing what ' stupid stuff' with her sister usually involved- talking about men's anatomy amongst other things she suspected that there was something sexual in the conversation he'd been having with his sister. Seeing how he had avoided telling her what it was about, she presumed that she was involved.

"So, this is the front of the house and uh this is the front door." This was weird; he'd never had to show anyone around his house quite like this.

"Uh Will I do have eyes and can see."

"Oh right, sure."

The first couple of minutes carried on in this strange fashion with neither of them sure what to say until they got into the swing of things. Lizzie was very impressed with the house it was very well designed and laid out with elegant furnishings and complimentary colours. However it wasn't until they reached the library that she really began to appreciate the house for all it was worth.

"Wow," she gazed around; there were literally hundreds upon thousands of books in this room. So many in fact that there was a ladder which hung against the wall along a rail lining cases of books which Lizzie was thrilled to see were under alphabetical sections. "I can't believe you have a ladder. I've always wanted to see a library with a ladder."

"Turn around." Will instructed.

"Huh." In her excitement Lizzie hadn't seen the large fireplace that was attached to the wall with the door, so large in fact that you could walk into it. Lizzie wasn't entirely sure what to say standing in front of such an incredible room.

"Yeah." Will agreed. It was strange but with that simple use of what was essentially slang, said in the right tone at the right time with the vaguest of nods seemed to convey exactly what Lizzie was feeling. "This has always been one of my favourite rooms."

"It is pretty incredible. Can I go on the ladder?"

"Of course." He nodded at her youthful excitement.

Gingerly she climbed the ladder and then pushed herself with her foot along the rail. She moved faster than she had expected, on films it was all so controlled and elegant but the latter jittered horribly far more than she had expected and she gripped the ladder tighter.

"Are you ok?" She looked down and saw Will looking up at her in concern.

"Yes, it just moved differently from what I had expected."

"Yeah I think that I should probably look at it, it might need some oil or tightening of the screws or something."

"You have no idea do you?" she laughed.

"I never claimed to be a mechanic."

"It's a ladder! It's not like it requires mechanics. Aren't men supposed to have all that stuff built in, just tightening stuff and knowing what screwdriver to use and whatever?

The tour continued in this joking manner and Lizzie got to see every room, including the drawing room, the old nursery which was now a bit of a dumping ground, the dining and living rooms the box, smoking and morning rooms, most of the bedrooms upstairs and the ballroom. Lined with mirrors and an absolutely huge Axminster carpet that Will admitted was being donated to the national trust, this room was almost as impressive as the library. In fact with it two large chandeliers, extremely tall ceiling and other grand furnishings, many would have preferred it to the library but for Lizzie nothing could top a room full of books.

In actual fact one of the only rooms that she hadn't see, although she wasn't aware of it the house was so huge was Will's bedroom. It had great views and was a very nice bedroom with a very large ornate four poster bed but he had felt that by having Lizzie in there, that would have been a whole new level of strange and uncomfortable.

She had such a great time touring the house that she was almost late to meet Andrea and James but not quite. They sat in the cafe, once again with series of maps on a table planning the next journey.

"So my cousin has invited us to stay for next week."

"This is the one who lives in Wales?" James asked.

"Yeah, lives in the longest named place in the world. There," she pointed to the map where Lizzie could read Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysilogogogoch.

"How on earth do you pronounce that?"

"No idea. It's known as Llainfairpwll locally."

"But I thought that we would be going there a lot later," James complained.

"Yes, but her mother in law is going to have a hip replacement when we were due to go and so it's easier for her if we go next week instead of later. So, we'll go across to Wales and then up to Scotland and down the middle of England."

"Not in a logical order, again." James grumbled. "I suppose we'll be bed and breakfasting it?" He asked with a small sigh.

"What do you mean again? In France you knew exactly where you were staying each time and where we would be, this is the first time in ages."

"What's wrong with bed and breakfasts?" Lizzie asked.

"He's a man and can't stand a little adventure." Andrea said.

"No," James corrected. "He's a man, so likes to know where he will sleep each night, not driving around aimlessly looking for hotels, sometimes as late as seven o'clock in the evening when most people would be looking for something to eat."

"We did it once," Andrea told Lizzie ignoring James mimicking her. "Round the Lake District. We would check out of a hotel at around nine or ten o'clock in the morning drive off and he would want to know where we were staying within the hour. Couldn't stand not knowing exactly where he would end up."

"Oh right" Lizzie nodded. She wasn't sure how to bring up the subject.

"But you don't want to go."

"What?"James looked up thinking his wife was talking to him.

"What? How did you know?" Lizzie stared.

"When there's an attractive man involved versus a middle aged woman, I think anyone will know which option most young woman would pick."

"It's fine, I mean it's not as if I could stay. I'm looking forward to Wales." This was all said in rather a forlorn manner that was not that convincing.

"Why not?"

"Why not, what?"

"Why can't you stay here?" Andrea made it all sound so simple. "And nobody your age looks forward to Wales. I've mentioned my cousin Lorraine before, her husband _collects _chess boards. Not only does he _play_ them but he collects them. These are not exciting people."

"I'll stay if you don't," James offered.

"But I can't stay, what about the hotel?"

"Why don't you ask if there are any more room vacancies? There have been lots of empty rooms whilst we've been there." Andrea suggested, "Or better yet you could stay at Pemberley. They have a lot of empty rooms at Pemberley, I'm sure that they'd love it if you stayed."

"Won't that look a bit desperate?" Asked Lizzie desperately hoping that her Aunt would say that no, it wasn't. James gave a slight snort which he covered fairly quickly after receiving an elbow in the chest from his wife but not quickly enough. "It will won't it?"

"Don't worry I have a plan."

Lizzie knew an ominous speech when she heard one and Andrea's tone of voice sounded like she meant business.

*****

"So this is our email and our address in New York. I'll see if I can find those photos for you. I've had a look for them but everything got really chaotic in the move- there bound to turn up somewhere."

"Thanks," Giana took the slip of paper. "And I want you to have this. We found it years ago and never realised who it was with her in the photo. I've only just re-found it. So where are you of too now?"

She handed Andrea a photo of two young women smiling at the camera, both dressed informally their arms around each other. On the back, in faint feminine handwriting was written _The two A's- Pemberley. _

Andrea smiled to herself; this was just the question that she had hoped that she would ask. "We're off to Wales. I don't think Lizzie's looking forward to it. My cousin's house is very small. She wanted to stay here longer."

"Oh."

Andrea was a firm believer that if you didn't ask for something you would never get it and there was no harm in asking.

"I think she was looking at staying on at the hotel."

"Really?" This was an exciting idea for Giana as she felt as though Lizzie had barely been in Derbyshire for five minutes.

"Yes, I think she was worried how it might look to your brother though."

"She really likes him, doesn't she?" Giana grinned at the thought.

"Yeah, she does."

"Well I think that he likes her a lot too. So for the sake of both of them I think I need to have my new best friend come and stay at Pemberley."

"I was hoping that you would say that," Andrea said with a responding grin.

*****

"Are you sure that this is ok?" Lizzie asked as Giana helped her lift her suitcase up the grand staircase at Pemberley.

"Of course. Why wouldn't it be?" Giana was really excited. As yet her brother didn't know. He just believed that Lizzie had gone on to Wales and would be back in time for the ball.

The suitcase was very heavy and clattered against the marble stone as they reached the top. This noise was heard by Will Darcy in the study.

"Giana," he called as he rounded the corner to the stairs, "What's....." The question what's going on died on his lips as he saw who was standing there. "Lizzie."

"Yeah, Lizzie's coming to stay for awhile, until the ball."

"If that's ok? Is it?"

"Of course. Why wouldn't it be?" Will had no idea that he'd just echoed his sister exactly. "We're happy to have you."

Very happy to have you, he thought to himself.

******

It had been a fun five days, Lizzie mused as she looked back on that moment. Giana had conveniently been incredibly busy over the first couple of days- so busy in fact that she couldn't spend any time with Lizzie, which meant that it was left to Darcy to entertain their guest.

And he did. Very well.

So well in fact that the days, rather regrettably slipped past at an alarming rate.

Pretty soon Charlie, Chris, Caroline and Clare and her husband arrived. There was all sorts of chaos as they entered. Everyone helping with luggage an greeting each other and of course the questions that surrounded Lizzie.

"What are you doing here? I thought that you were going to Wales," This was from Chris who was the one with the most information and even he was exceptionally surprised to see her there.

"Li-Lizzie? How are you?" A very stunned Charlie asked.

"Eliza? What on earth are you doing here?" This, in a very snotty voice came from Caroline.

"Lizzie is a guest here," Will informed her not liking her tone, "The house was two small in Wales and we thought that she should stay here what with her going to the ball with me next week." He decided to drop the bomb shell early on and was pleased to see the look on Caroline's face.

"Oh is she?" She spoke as though Lizzie wasn't there but then turned to her, "We'll have to go dress shopping together."

"Um," Lizzie could tell false kindness when she saw it but wasn't sure how to respond. "Sure. Ok then."

They had barely been in Pemberley an hour sorting out suitcases and rooms when Richard arrived. He had not been surprised to see Lizzie as Giana had already told him.

Caroline had original pouted and pretended, rather badly, not to mind when she saw that Lizzie had been given the room next to Will which only made him smile wider, especially as there was nothing that she could do about it.

Richard who had been loud and jolly and had pointed this out and said, "Never mind Caro, you can always come into my room. I know I'm not quite as good a catch, as the great Darcy here, money wise of course, but I am a Fitzwilliam."

Will bit his lip and sniggered, as did Lizzie and Giana both with mischievous looks in their eyes. When she looked at Caroline's brothers she could see that they were going through a similar reaction.

With a roll of her eyes and a grunt of disgust Caroline pushed her way into her rather small guest room. In fact it was the worst room in the house, which was saying much given that the worst room was still far superior to the average hotel but Will had felt a small jolt of victory to give her that room.

They had arrived mid afternoon and everyone was pretty tired so they had an early meal and then everyone went their separate ways. It began with Richard, Chris, Charlie and Giana sitting on the sofa playing some violent game on the Wii, Lizzie wasn't sure what. They were in teams, shooting aliens and dodging bullets, Chris and Giana on one and Richard and Charlie on the other. During the middle of the game when they had just reached level seven, Chris turned towards Darcy and stepped away from Giana claiming that he wanted a break.

The other three had carried on, confused as to why he had changed his mind so suddenly but still enjoyed their game.

Caroline had tried to get involved to replace her brother but it was clear that she didn't know how to play and so began to try to get Will involved in conversation but it wasn't working. He was too busy staring at Lizzie who was sitting in the corner resting her head on her hands trying to get rid of her throbbing headache. Not long after, she used that as a reason to go to bed early and Will having nothing better to do, not wanting to hear the loud beeps and shouts of the game or Caroline's obnoxious voice, invited Chris into the library for a drink with him. He made it very clear that Caroline was not invited so she too went to bed.

Chris followed Darcy down the corridors suddenly nervous about what he wanted to talk to him about. He wondered if it was what he thought it was. It soon turned out it wasn't. Darcy got them both a drink, a glass of whisky each and then turned to face him.

"You know what the problem was?"

"What problem?" Chris was becoming even more anxious.

"The problem with Lizzie and the way I was before. You know what I was like." There was a pause as the two men looked at each other both remembering all that had happened with Lizzie.

"The problem was I just assumed she liked me. I just assumed that she would say yes and she would throw herself at my feet. "

He paused. Chris was unsure as to whether he should talk or let Darcy carry on.

"And I," he laughed, "I just thought I loved her, that she was this perfect woman for me when I hadn't even spoken to her and had no way of knowing her feelings towards me."

"We all make mistakes." Chris had certainly made his fair share.

"Not ones like that. I had built her up in my mind as this perfect woman, this absolute goddess and you know what?" he leaned in closer.

"What?" He eyed him closely.

"I keep waiting for the disappointment, every moment I spend with her now I think I'm going to find out suddenly that she's not perfect, not flawless but in fact flawed in some huge way that makes her not right for me. And then I will have to deal with this crashing wave of disappointment coming down on me."

He leaned in even closer.

"What will you do if it happens?"

"I don't think it will. Each moment I spend with her I get to see how even more perfect she is."

"Oh right. That's good." Chris felt as though his voice was stilting repeating vague words that someone who had no idea of what to say would have used.

"So you two have been spending a lot of time together?" Chris asked in a bad attempt at nonchalance.

Will smiled. He thought back to the last five days.

"_Close your eyes."_

"_No." She shook her head stubbornly. _

"_Close your eyes, Lizzie. C'mon, don't you trust me?"_

"_Not even a little bit."_

"_Fine then," he grabbed a silk scarf that Giana had been wearing and had left on the counter. He threw it over her eyes and tied it._

"_Will!"_

_He knew that she wasn't protesting that much, he had left it so that she could untie it if she wanted._

"_Can you see?"_

"_No and I hate that."_

"_Look just come through this way," he led her gentle through to the kitchen, enjoying the way she leaned on him, trusting him completely. "Ok sit there." He sat her down at the nearest stall. _

_Lizzie couldn't stand this; it was so strange being without her eyes like this, having one of her senses cut off. It did make her other ones more heightened. She could hear Will's soft deep voice near her ear, her spine tingling as he spoke. She could feel his soft, strong hands as he led her. She could smell his strong, musky soapy scent that was all natural instead of cologne as well as something else...._

"_What's that smell?" _

"_I'm glad you asked. Open up." _

_She felt a fork near her mouth and without thinking opened her mouth. _

"_Mmm," she swallowed. "That tastes good. What is it?"_

"_Guess," he said and she could tell by the warmth in his voice that he was smiling._

"_Uh duck? And ginger? And orange? And something else."_

"_Cinnamon and saffron. It's an unusual combination but it works."_

"_It does," she licked her lips, "Can I have some more?"_

"_Of course," he took of her blindfold. "What, you expect me to feed you?" He got out another fork and ate a mouthful himself. _

"_What was the point in all that?" she pointed at the scarf that was lying at the side._

"_Because that's to teach you to eat properly. This is how food should be eaten, when it can be properly appreciated by the senses."_

"_Food dork!"_

"_I like cooking! What's wrong with that?"_

"_Nothing, In fact I think it's pretty great. It's just..." she paused and shrugged her shoulders at him. "there are so much better things we could do that involve the senses."_

_And as he was looking towards her with wide eyes, she leaned forward and kissed him. They had fun testing out each other's senses as the night went on. _

Will blushed thinking about it, that had only been last night. The rest of the week had been spent touring the Pemberley grounds on bikes.....

"_Race ya!" Lizzie called shooting ahead of him._

"_Fine, I'll win though" and he sped in front of her using all his energy to push himself._

"_Really, slow poke," she was just behind him but appeared to be as relaxed as possible. _

They had gone round the maze......

"_Ok, ok, ok I'm lost."_

"_You're the one who wanted to lead."_

"_You've been around this before! It would be cheating."_

"_I know. Still I like being lost with you because then I don't feel so lost."_

"_Cheesy Will, ridiculously cheesy."_

"_Yeah I couldn't quite pull it off."_

"_No one could." They looked at each other and laughed. _

They had watched films, seen the sights and generally hung out. It had been good. Actually, it had been pretty darn great.

"Yes," he turned to Chris who had been waiting for him whilst he had recollected, "We've been spending a lot of time together.

**So Darcy was very sweet with planning the date but he is still a man and we can't have sunshine all the time so I made him seem a little preoccupied. This will become quite important later. **

**Ixi-shaj- I've fixed the mistake- Thanks for pointing it out. **

**I just want to explain a few things. Derbyshire exists (obviously). I have not been there but been through when I stayed near Matlock. It has a castle which is an old ruin which is where I got the idea for Andrea and James. It does have a river- The Derwent- but I had already planned to include the rowing boats so that just fitted in.**

**Pemberley is based on a lot of stately homes that I have seen- including the outside of Chatsworth house which is in Derbyshire and many others. **

**I've seen the place where they filmed the Netherfield parts of the 2005 P and P but it as actually a lot smaller than it looks on film. The ballroom is loosely based of the ballroom from the first twenty minutes of Sense and Sensibility which I saw last week. Other rooms such as the morning room, the box room etc come from these houses. **

**The idea for the maze came from Longleat and another fic I read. **

**The next Chapter will be the ball and then Lizzie will receive a certain phone call......... (sorry but it has to happen)**

**Please Review**


	21. Having a Ball Part 1

**So, people seem to like Darcy blushing.**

**Thanks to Girl of Chaos for pointing out something I missed, I guess I should have thought of that, huh? Thanks to Epic Drama Geek , you gave me an idea as well. **

**Thank you also to everyone whose reading. **

**This is a two part chapter which I hope to have the second part up pretty soon. I know there was a bit of a delay getting this chapter up. **

"_So how do I look?" Lizzie came out of the room ready to head off to the ball. Richard and Will were waiting for her. _

"_With your eyes." that was Richard's response to the stunning way that Lizzie looked._

_She nodded and went to follow him out of the room behind them when she felt a hand graze hers. Will had seen the disappointed look on her face and so reached out for her._

"_I'll let you know when I catch my breath."_

_She turned to him, smiling softly. "You know you're not really supposed to say things like that to a girl. It does things to her."_

_He smiled and they walked down the stairs together leading into the ballroom even though they both knew that they couldn't go into the room together. He'd had to, a few days ago; explain to her that they would need to pretend to make their relationship more casual than it was._

******

"I swear you didn't show me this room before. " Lizzie looked around at the filing cabinets that surrounded the small box room.

"I didn't. It's not really used much. There's just something I need to explain to you." He was worried about how this would go.

"At the ball you need to make sure that people think we're not together." She finished simply for him. Richard had explained this to her a little bit with some help from Giana who had wanted to make it very clear that it wasn't her brothers fault.

"It's just that with my family and the company," he began to file through the nearest cabinet but she put her hand on his arm.

"It fine. I saw the article." Giana had shown her the newspaper article that showed Will was engaged to some woman named Sophia and had explained how they had merely gone together to the Pemberley Ball. The article went on to explain Darcy Corporations position in the stock market and how this engagement would affect it.

It was all completely ridiculous and then Giana had explained how everyone had reacted around them, family and friends when they had barely started dating. Will had hated the attention and everyone had reacted strangely.

"I'll still dance with you and everything, it's just I can't spend all my time with you. As much as I'd like to."

"I understand." And she did. In all honesty his family sounded terrifying and she wasn't sure she wanted to be shown off to the world. She traced her fingers up his arm, running them along in little patterns until she came to his elbow and where his shirt was rolled up. "I was thinking that maybe we shouldn't tell anyone else," she ran her fingers up the outside of his shirt until they reached his neck and his collar bone, "You know, just have time to ourselves, without others interrupting " she wrapped her hand around his neck.

He put both of his around her, "I think that sounds just about right," and he kicked the door shut behind them.

*****

That had been the first difficult part. The second was explaining that as Richard's brother and his wife had unexpectedly announced that they were in fact coming and needed a room, Lizzie needed somewhere else to stay.

He had wanted her to stay at Pemberley, so badly, but it wasn't possible unless she slept on the floor of another room or in his own bed. He wasn't willing to suggest that, it was far too presumptuous. And so he got her a room at the local hotel. He had briefly thought about telling his cousin that he couldn't come but he had originally promised them a room to stay and it would open up all sorts of questions if he changed the plan.

He had managed to, using his family name get her a room at the local very exclusive hotel far more fancy than the one she had been staying with Andrea and James. When she had offered to pay he had laughed and told her to forget it. When she had insisted he had still not let her pay.

Fortunately his cousin was only due to arrive the day before the ball so Lizzie was still around Pemberley for awhile.

"How is it that Richard is involved in the company? I thought it belonged to your father's side."

"It did but years ago there was a little trouble and my father wanted to expand and so my Uncle bought himself in with some shares."

"Oh, I see."

"I guess we'd better get back."

*****

"So Eliza," Caroline drawled the morning after they had arrived as they were sitting at the breakfast table, before the arrangements of the ball had been made and when Lizzie was still staying there. "How long have you been in Derbyshire?"

"Um," Lizzie paused wondering why she was directing all these questions at her. "About a week." She turned to Giana, almost to prove to Caroline (who had been acting in a vicious manner all day) that she knew the family well. "Wouldn't you say so?"

"I don't know. The times gone so quickly; we've had so much fun," Giana was aware of what Lizzie was doing and made her comment incredibly pointed.

"Weren't you supposed to be in France this summer?" This rather accusatory question did not come from Caroline but surprisingly from Chris.

"I was but then we came back and toured England." She was rather unsure what was bothering him but Chris had been acting very strangely.

"Do you remember that trip to France, all those years ago?" Giana said, also realising that Chris was acting bizarrely and attempted to diffuse the tension in the room.

"What trip?" Caroline asked, frowning slightly.

"On the boat. We all went. It was fun."

"Actually, it was a boys only trip but my little sister felt that she had to tag along." At the words 'little sister' Will slung his arm around Giana. Chris looked over.

"Well, you let me come along, didn't you? It was fun; I remember some drunken karaoke night with Charlie doing a very good Tina Turner impression."

"How do you remember that? You were so young!" Charlie groaned and hung his head in his hands. "Still I wasn't the one who fell in the water," He turned and Lizzie thought he was talking about Chris but it was Will who replied...

"Only because Richard pushed me!"

"You pulled me in after you!" He protested. The others were all laughing, Clare, Richard, Charlie, Will, Giana and Lizzie. Hurst was asleep but even Caroline was attempting to smile in an effort to fit in. It was only a few seconds later that Chris began laughing but Lizzie, who had been watching carefully noticed that this wasn't quite the full Chris Bingley laugh, that she was used to. There defiantly seemed to be something up with him.

"It was a good trip but a long time ago."

It had been a long time ago, Georgiana had been incredibly young. Will hadn't wanted to take her but George Darcy had insisted. It had been fine, as long as they'd let her stay up late and eat junk then she hadn't spoken of how much alcohol they had drunk.

Not long after Chris left the room. Georgiana followed him.

"Chris," she began hesitantly, "Is there something wrong?"

He turned and looked at her as though he didn't understand why she would ask that. "No, no there's nothing wrong."

He tried for the next few minutes to revert to his old self, the one that she was used to, so as not to worry her, goofing around and teasing her.

It didn't take long for that to wear off. "Sorry I've had a lot on my mind lately."

"You're trip with Lizzie?"

He nodded. "Amongst other things- It's been crazy at work lately."

"Right."

The atmosphere was stiff between the two of them, which was strange, all the time that she had known him it had never been like this. She wasn't the only one who noticed. Lizzie Bennet who was watching them realised as well.

*****

"Eliza, I simply love that dress that you bought. You know you really should wear it to dinner tonight, we're all getting dressed up and it would be such a shame if you only had one occasion to wear it."

"Thank you but I don't want to risk getting anything on it," Caroline was up to something but Lizzie wasn't sure what. She had been acting strange, stranger than usual, all day.

They had gone shopping that morning all the women to buy dresses but it soon turned out that Lizzie was the only one who needed to buy a dress. Not normally embarrassed by things like money and designers, Lizzie was self conscious when the other three women admitted that they had pre-ordered their dresses from well known top designers. When Lizzie confessed that she hadn't got a dress, Caroline had said

"Well Eliza, I'm sure we can find something acceptable for _you _on the _high street_."

Giana gave her a glare and they continued their search after she assured Lizzie that if not, she had lots of old dresses that she had barely warn that she could use. Grateful as though she was, Lizzie wanted that new dress feeling, something she felt special in not just a borrowed second hand dress.

In actual fact they did find something on the _high street_ as Caroline had so scornfully called it. It was in a little boutique that Giana knew in the more artsy end of town called Strawberry. It was a green silk dress with a low back very similar to the one that Kiera Knightley had worn in atonement. It had think straps with a slight v-neck and the bunching around her hip along with it grouping at the back showed of her new much slimmer figure. She wasn't sure how but she had definitely lost weight, maybe it was not eating so much in the heat.

After checking with Caroline and Clare and then double checking with Giana that the ball was not black and white themed she bought the dress. She felt nice in it; it was comfortable and didn't make feel as though anything was wrong with it but it wasn't _the _dress. At this stage in the game though, who even cared?

"Ok, maybe wearing the dresses to dinner tonight wasn't the best idea," Caroline gave a small, cold laugh that no one bought. "But we should all give each other make-over's and hair trials for the hair. Won't that be fun?" She gave another girlish laugh and smiled at Elizabeth.

Lizzie was feeling increasingly nervous about Caroline. She wished it wasn't just the women but the guys were all out playing games or something- Lizzie wasn't sure what- male bonding was what Richard had told them.

In actual fact Richard wasn't sure that _this_ was male bonding. Male bonding in his mind involved alcohol, card games and talking about women in terms that they would not enjoy hearing. No, Charlie had the bright idea that they should all go out and get some exercise. So they were now planning to play football.

"Hey Rich, do me a favour?" Will turned to his cousin as they marked up the football pitch.

"Yeah?"

"Find out anything and everything you can about Chris' relationship with Lizzie."

"This got anything to do with that talk you had with him the other night?"

"Not really, why?"

"I don't know," Richard looked thoughtful. "He's just been acting weird and he seemed nervous about joining you."

"Really?" Will hadn't really thought about it. He'd been so wrapped up in his own bubble that he hadn't noticed Chris, he had only been thinking up ideas.

"I just wanted to get away from Caroline and I knew I couldn't just leave the room on my own without a decent reason so.... You really think he was nervous?"

"Maybe he just thought you were going to grill you about the trip he's going on with Lizzie?" Richard scanned his cousin carefully. "Aren't you bothered by that?"

"No not really; I have a plan. I'm going to take a couple of months of work, find a decent CEO to cover me and take that trip with her myself. I never had a gap year or a break and I think it might be fun. Chris won't mind." He seemed rather cocky about his plans.

"Will Lizzie? Are you sure Chris won't? Haven't they planned this for months now?"

"I know but Lizzie's just going with him for someone to go with. And Chris has travelled before so I'm sure he'll be ok with it. I just want you to check. Be casual and talk to him. I mean their friends, but I don't think they've spoken properly in awhile. He hasn't seemed that excited about it. He won't mind, will he?" Will now seemed unsure.

Richard did think it was rather bossy and controlling of him to assume that Lizzie would rather go travelling with him but then what man would want the woman he loved to go off travelling for several months with another man? Will hadn't told him that he was in love with her but Richard was not as dumb as he sometimes pretended to be. It made things more fun. He guessed that eventually it would all work out.

Whilst they had been talking the two men had looked over at Chris who was watching as Charlie kicked a ball in the air. He saw them looking at him and wondered, why would the two cousins be talking about him? Could this have something to do with Lizzie or...... with Giana?

*****

It was the morning of the ball and the five women- now that Richard's brother Michael had arrived bringing with him his wife Amy- were getting ready. Lizzie had moved across to the nearby hotel but had stayed at the house for so long that it barely seemed as though she had left. Andrea and James had also arrived back but they were staying at the hotel that they had previously been staying at. They were spending a little time on their own, being nostalgic about the town before the ball.

"I still think that you should wear a colour on your nails, Lizzie."

"I don't think I've worn green nail varnish since I was a teen and realised what a bad look it was."

"Well why don't you wear a red colour?" Caroline was being really insistence with the nail varnish.

"It's fine. I'll just do a French manicure."

"Can you pass me that deep cherry colour, Clare?" Giana asked sitting on a chair by the next nearest dressing table having just removed a hot mud face pack.

"So that's the colour that matches your dress then?" Amy turned to her cousin-in law.

"Yeah. I'll show you it later. Lucy said if we hung them up she would give them a steam. We should do that later so we can just get into them and go to the ball."

They finished painting their nails and then each woman got the garment bags with their dresses. Giana was still painting her nails so Lizzie grabbed her own for her and left them on the chair. Giana finished up painting her nails and left the deep red coloured bottle by the side of the dressing table near the chair with the pile of dresses which coincidentally had Lizzie's on the top. She shut the door behind her.

******

"Right so all the tables are going along here. And the flower arrangements are all done and sorted. We need to sort the napkins. What time are your parents getting here?" This was all spoken very quickly and Will seemed to be getting more stressed by the minute.

Octagonal tables were laid out down the side of the room and chairs had been set round as well as an area marked out for the band. However the cutlery wasn't set out yet and in Will's mind they were already way behind schedule.

"Will relax, it'll be fine." Richard rolled his eyes.

"Can I do anything to help?" Amy was a very sweet girl who hadn't been married to their cousin long and so still felt as though she didn't fit into the family well and always offered to help.

"No, no it's fine Amy. You'll probably want to get ready soon, anyway. Lizzie what are you doing?"

"Arranging napkins. What does it look like?" she was indeed folding napkins, arranging them in fan shapes.

"Oh god, that's going to take ages. Do we have time?"

Will Darcy was officially flustered and panicked and many other long and confusing words that right now his brain couldn't process. He was suddenly very aware and therefore incredibly nervous that this was the first Pemberley Ball Lizzie would get to see and the first time all the regular people that normally attended the ball would get to meet Lizzie.

Lizzie came and stood next to him. She couldn't put her arms around him as she would have liked given the amount of people in the room and the flurrying activity that surrounded them.

"Relax. It's going to be fine." She then pulled a voice very similar to Dory's from Finding Nemo. "Just keep breathing."

"Elizabeth! Elizabeth," Lucy Reynolds came rushing into the room. During her stay Lizzie had got to know the elder woman quite well over stay and had learnt that her scary, strict manner was not always how she was. She was now looking rather out of breath.

"C'mon. There's something wrong with your dress."

All the woman in the room immediately turned to Lizzie and then to Lucy as Lizzie followed her out of the room. The men raised their eyebrows at each other but then followed as well.

They reached the room, no one having actually spoken just hurrying, their eyes darting to each other.

Lizzie reached the room first and pulled open the door. Lying on the chair, completely out of it's garment bag was Lizzie's green dress, covered in nail varnish.

The exact same shade of nail varnish as Giana was currently wearing.

"Oh my God...."

That was Lizzie's reaction but as the other women piled into the room they had similar reactions.

"Eliza, how terrible," Caroline simpered but Richard thought that he could see a slight smile on her face. He had meant to look out for her, knowing that she would probably try something to sabotage Lizzie but he had thought it would have meant snide comments not all and out war.

"That's my nail varnish." Giana examined the bottle.

Everyone turned to look at her. Lizzie knew that it had happened on person; she was not naive enough to believe that it had just happened, she knew that she had left the dress, carefully sealed up, that even if the bottle of nail varnish had been left unsealed and that it had, for some strange reason fallen off the table without anyone being in the room it would not have fallen on the dress like that. No, the way that the nail varnish covered the dress meant that someone had deliberately poured it on. And Giana wouldn't have done that.

"But I,..I.. put the lid on the bottle. I did, Lizzie I swear." The younger woman turned to her with a wide eyed look.

"I know."

Lizzie picked up the dress and ran her finger along the hard bumpy surface that had now ruined her dress.

"I'm sure we can get it off," Amy offered but even she didn't look as though she believed it.

"I guess you'll have to wear one of Georgiana's old dresses," Caroline was looking at her in an annoying, patronising attempt at sympathetic manner.

Will stepped in front of Caroline. He had seen the look Richard had given him, the smile and smug manner of Caroline and had reached the same conclusion. He wasn't sure that he could confront her, not without evidence but he could try to make the situation better.

"I'm really sorry, Lizzie I don't know what happened." Giana was incredibly apologetic. "Of course you can borrow any dress you want, I'll show them to you now."

She led a still stunned Lizzie towards the door.

"It's such a shame. It was a lovely dress." Caroline's voice still sounded incredibly false.

"Yes, until you ruined it," Chris muttered. He knew that everyone knew that it was Caroline but nobody was really in position to say anything to her and so he'd spoken up. Lizzie smiled at him gratefully. As her brother he was allowed to yell at her in a way that Will or Richard couldn't. However much they both wanted too.

Slightly irritated at Chris doing something he couldn't do, Will leaned closer to Lizzie in an attempt to whisper but said it loudly enough so that the whole room especially Caroline could hear. "You know I think we have some old label dresses upstairs in the attic, haute couture stuff."

He opened the door and shuffled Giana and Lizzie out of the door.

"Oh Will let's all go and see those dresses, I love that sort of thing," Caroline cooed. She didn't and everyone knew. Caroline hated old things, claiming that they were dirty and horrible but everyone knew that she wanted to muscle in on the time Lizzie and Will spent together.

"Actually Caroline I think Lizzie can sort it out for herself, you and I are going to have a little talk."

******

"Do you know what this is?" Her eyes were shining.

"Uh a dress?"

"Yes, yes but it's a Chanel dress!"

"Well, try it on then," Will didn't really understand the whole excited dress thing but anything that made Lizzie looked that pleased was ok with him.

Giana had found that the dust in the attic had somehow set off her hay fever and so had gone down stairs to hold the fort down with her guests. She had made Lizzie swear that once they found the dresses she would bring them down so they could try them out together.

Giana also knew that someone needed to be down there to make sure everyone was still talking to each other and she knew her brother would appreciate a little time alone with Lizzie, away from the crazy masses. They hadn't had a lot of time alone together since the Bingleys had arrived.

Unfortunately the dresses, which all belonged to Anna Darcy, had been stored up in the attic once when items were being moved around probably when Georgiana had been born were now scattered all over the large rom. There were several old wardrobes up here with items in amongst other remnants of the Darcy life that had been stored away. Lizzie had already marvelled over an old rocking horse and a painting of an old man wearing a hat that George Darcy had removed from the upstairs hallway when Georgiana admitted that it gave her nightmares.

"Shall I add it to the pile?" Will gestured to the dresses he was wearing.

*******

"Caroline, what exactly are you playing at?"

"What are you talking about?" Her voice was innocent. "You've already managed to clear the room, now if you don't mind I have things to do." Her tone became frosty as it always was when only she and her brother were in the room.

Everyone had left, partially because they all needed to get ready but also to avoid the tension between the siblings.

"Things to do? Like spend time with Darcy in a desperate attempt to get him to like you? Well that's not going to happen. He's interested in Lizzie and you are not going to try to sabotage things for her."

She gave a small laugh and smiled at him, almost evilly. "Really Chris? Me sabotaging Lizzie? I don't know where you get your ideas. You're just jealous."

"Jealous?" He wasn't sure what his sister was getting at but he knew that he wouldn't like were she was going.

"You're in love with Lizzie. And she's going to go off with Darcy. Well not if I have anything to say about it. But she's not interested in you like that, is she? She tilted her head and gave him another cold look.

Chris said nothing just stood there wondering how his sister had become so deranged.

"And the travelling? Really? You think that's going to happen? What, she's going to spend all that time with you and then fall in love with you?" She gave a small derisive laugh.

"Look, you're not going to ruin this. I know that you're deranged but you're going to stay out of their way."

*****

"You're seriously ok with me wearing one of these dresses?" She looked at the small pile.

"Of course, Lizzie. It's fine. What, you want to wear one of Giana's? You're not really the same size."

"I'm sure there's one that'll fit."

"Yes, but we have these, so why not? Oh and I want to pay you back for that dress."

"Well you're not going to."

"But Lizzie, really it's no bother."

"Just like it was no bother for you to pay my hotel bill? You know none of the staff there will even tell me how much a room a night."

He shrugged a little and smiled. "I don't see why it's a big deal."

"It is. I don't need you paying for me all the time."

"I like doing it."

"Well I-" suddenly Will had put his hand over her mouth.

"Caroline's coming."

Lizzie listened and she could hear Caroline's ever so annoying voice calling around the attic roof.

"I guess we should go down. People will realise that we've been away for awhile." Lizzie knew what would happen if both she and Will were away for awhile.

"Yeah, I guess you're right." The lighting was bad up in the attic and his voice was husky in her ear. "But there is another door down, so we won't have to pass her."

He led her past another chest of draws which had a pair of antlers resting on top of them and oddly enough a suit of armour.

"Richard and I used to try to get in it and fight with each other. My mother was worried we would get hurt after it fell on our butler one day."

"You had a suit of armour, I had a bookend."

He looked at her curiously.

"When we were younger Jane dropped a bookend on my foot, so my mother moved it to a higher shelf. I still have the scar."

She reached down to her feet and inspected her foot. "See." She showed him the thin line down the middle of her foot.

Instead she found that he wasn't looking at the front of her foot but at the side.

"You still have that bruise?"

She looked down as well. "I guess I do. It doesn't hurt anymore though."

She stepped to the side to avoid a room beam but her foot caught around what looked like a set of curtains and fell. Luckily she fell onto an old mattress. Even more luckily Will was already there to catch her, she falling on top of him.

Breathing slightly, the fall having surprised her, "I suppose we'd better go. Caroline will be looking for us and I need to try these dresses on." She pushed against the side, leaning on the beam trying to get up.

"Or," he pulled her closer to him, where she landed on top of him unceremoniously with slight sag of the mattress. "We could stay here a little while longer."

She smiled. "I don't really have a problem with that."

"Me neither."

"You're not worried about the time?"

"Nope. They'll just have to sort their own problems out.


	22. Having a Ball and a Bawl Part 2

**Some people have asked about Chris but I'm afraid I can't explain everything right now. That'll be a few chapters away. Big thanks to everyone whose reviewed. I love them and you so much.**

"So how do I look?" Lizzie came out of the bathroom ready to head off to the ball. Richard and Will were waiting for her. She was wearing a dress. A full length, haute couture Chanel dress. With delicate thin little black straps meeting a tendril of her hair which was twisted up- the ends were still slightly raggedy from the date, which led to a row of hundreds of delicate little buttons down her back. Then, once you had got over that and she turned around there was the front of the dress, cut exceptionally elegantly, emphasising her waist and chest with a sweetheart neckline, tiny amounts of silver embroidered detail all over the warm cream-almost-but-not-quite lilac coloured dress.

"With your eyes." that was Richard's response to the stunning way that Lizzie looked.

She nodded and went to follow him out of the room behind them when she felt a hand graze hers. Will had seen the disappointed look on her face and so reached out for her arm as she passed him.

"I let you know when I catch my breath."

She smiled at him. "You're not supposed to say things like that to a girl."

"Oh and why not Miss Bennet?" He was smirking at her reaction.

"Because!"

In truth he wasn't supposed to say things like that because it only made her heart flutter even more and made her want to do things to him which wouldn't be allowed right now.

"Excellent arguing points. By the way I'm bagging the first dance." This was said in the new confident manner that he had around Lizzie. She liked it. For some reason it meant that he was less likely to make mistakes but she did half expect him to say, "If uh you don't mind," on the end given how nervous he normally was.

"Fine with me."

They smiled at each other in that knowing way and walked to the ballroom.

"Wow," Lizzie said softly as she stared at the room. Lit up by candles that were reflected in the huge mirrors and the two chandeliers the whole room seemed to glow. It was helped by the fact that the room was filled with elegant, well dressed people and an orchestra taking it back to almost a different time period.

"So I want to introduce you to a few people, then the meal and a speech from me and we'll formally open the dancing. You don't mind do you?" He spoke quietly under his breath near her ear.

"Of course I don't."

He walked her up to a middle aged couple standing near the door.

"This is my Aunt Celia and my Uncle Henry Fitzwilliam. My Uncle owns shares in the company."

Lizzie smiled and shook their hands. She felt slightly as though she was being judged but they seemed fairly welcoming. She was rather nervous about being introduced to Will's family this early on. She really wanted to make a good impression to them.

"I recognize that dress." Celia was staring at it, intently. Lizzie swallowed; her nervousness increasing.

"Yes, it belonged to Mum. There was a mishap with Lizzie's dress. Lizzie, you should tell them about it," He looked at her encouragingly; secretly he was very excited by this they were some of the more important family members. "I have to go circulate. You know how it is."

Lizzie couldn't believe that he had left her alone with them. She also couldn't believe that they recognized the dress. She felt as though she had stolen it and it was as though everyone was judging her for that.

"So how do you know my nephew?" Celia was looking at shrewdly Lizzie was nervous but actually Celia was watching for signs of how Lizzie felt about her favourite nephew.

"Um well Will, uh William, I mean Fitzwilliam and I um. I know Georgiana." She trailed off miserably.

Celia nodded with a slight smile on her face. This young girl was in love, all the signs were there.

"Such a wonderful girl," Henry smiled at the mention of her niece, oblivious to what his wife was thinking.

"Yes, she is," Richard joined them having gone down before Will to get a drink from the bar. He wrapped his arms around Lizzie's shoulders. "Seriously, Lizzie's amazing. That's why we're running off to get married. I just wanted to get it done, go off to Gretna Green on the next train but Liz here thought that you should meet."

She blushed and turned away from him mortified. "That's not true." She spoke quickly and then added. "Not that your son's not wonderful and a great catch for any girl, someday but...."

"He likes to tease?" Henry smiled.

"Yes," Lizzie said, relieved.

"Don't I know it. You know once, when he was about eleven.." he started to tell Lizzie leading her over to the bar for a drink.

His wife turned to her son with raised eyebrows.

"Yes, yes I know. I should have got in there faster, if I want to ever marry a decent girl and have grandchildren for you." He rolled his eyes.

"Not at all. I'm just deciding whether or not I'll need a new hat when a certain event happens."

Richard was surprised. He knew Will was in love with Lizzie and was pretty sure that she was too but it was still early days and who knew what would happen between them. He had been watching them closely to pick up the signals and the fact that his mother had picked them up so early showed that their relationship was far more obvious than he had originally thought. Anything could go wrong, even with the best of people and he was concerned of what the implications would be for the pair if it did. He wasn't entirely sure how well Will would cope.

A bell was rung, yes an actual dinner bell and pretty soon they were all sitting down at their respective tables and the meal was underway.

It was a pleasant enough way to spend an hour or so despite the fact that the Gardiners and Lizzie were the only ones who weren't involved in the company or knew the family well. At least it had decent food. They were sat on a table with Charlie and a few other people in the company. All the main members of the Darcy and Fitzwilliam family were at the main tables. Chris and Caroline were on a different table. She had thought Chris was supposed to be sitting on their table as the label said Mr C. Bingley but Chris had swerved away from her to another table taking his sister with him.

It was finished quickly and then there was that faint clinking sound of metal hitting glass and she saw that Will was preparing to give a speech.

"Family and Friends, It is wonderful to see you all here tonight and spend this evening with you." There was a pause as he looked around at people.

"It has been a very good year for Darcy pharmaceuticals and I hope that it will continue to be so. With our recent development of new drugs and FDA approval, it looks as though it will be a prosperous year for us all even in these troubled financial times. However, tonight is not the night to talk business but merely to enjoy ourselves. Which is why, I think that we should begin the dancing."

He smiled at everyone and there was a round of light applause. The large octagon tables were moved away and the band was brought in. Everyone stood, watching the others to see who woukd make up the first couples.

Will strode across the floor to meet Lizzie, smiled at her, put his hand on her waist, nodded at the band and the music started.

There may have been other couples dancing, Lizzie wasn't sure. It felt as though there were only the two them in the room.

"_You know I can't smile without you." _

"I recognize this song."

"It used to be a Barry Manilow song but this is the slow female version."

"It's nice, really nice." She suddenly felt like she needed to talk, still nervous about being in that close proximity to each other. She wasn't sure why she felt this way, why her heart juddered every time he spoke or looked her way.

_I can't smile without you_

_I can't laugh. _

_And I can't sing_

_I'm finding it hard to do anything_

_Because I feel sad when you're sad_

"So you've developed a new drug?"

"Yes." He was just enjoying dancing with her and didn't need to talk.

"What's it for?"

"Cancer- Chemotherapy. Look why don't we just dance? Is that not enough?" This was said gently and not demanding, just a question.

"Sorry," she could understand that he didn't want to ruin this dance with mindless chatter. They carried on wordlessly but comfortably.

_I just can't smile without you_

"So I can't dance with you now but I believe that song twelve is The Way you Look Tonight and I would like to book you again for that because you really do look incredibly beautiful."

She nodded.

She went to stand by the side and watched as Will skilfully dodged Caroline to ask Amy to dance. He was a very good dancer and so was she. Lizzie didn't recognize the song but liked just watching the two of them as they moved around. There were a lot of people dancing, she supposed that as the dances went on there would be less as people got over the excitement but there were still quite a few standing on the sidelines. She was glad for that, it meant that she didn't feel quite so awkward standing on her own in Anna Darcy's dress.

"Would you like to dance, Lizzie?" Charlie turned to her after they had been standing next to each other for couple of minutes. It was fairly clear he had been working up the guts for a while.

"Ok then."She figured he probably wanted to talk to her about Jane. He had been trying to talk to her all week.

Ironically enough the song that started playing was But Not for Me. It was strange that as Charlie put his hand on her waist, the line was "They're writing songs of love- but not for me....." Lizzie had to wonder if that was true.

"So how have you been? I feel as though I've barely had an opportunity to talk to you."

"I've been fine." He answered her in his usual polite tones. "And you?" she knew he didn't care about how she was. That was an exaggeration but she knew what she meant, obviously. It wasn't that he didn't care but she knew that by him asking after her he could then ask about her sister.

This was why, she merely answered "fine" without elaborating.

"And your sister? And uh the rest of your family?"

"Jane's fine. She's been in America- New York but she came back, I suppose a couple of months ago. We haven't seen each other for awhile."

"Oh." He didn't put his foot forward and for a few steps it was as though she was leading but leading backwards.

Lizzie knew this song quite well and so knew when it was going to end. So she started the difficult conversation towards the end.

_Although I can't dismiss _

_The memory of her kiss_

_I guess she's not for me_

"Charlie, let's be frank. My sister is happy. She wasn't all that happy not so long ago. She's not as happy as she could be but what can you do? What can _you_ do? She was happier when she was with you but then you hurt her feelings. Do you see my dilemma?"

There was a pause and after another seconds pause he realised he needed to twirl her.

"I want my sister to be happy. You made her happy. But you also made her unhappy. But she and I are going to waste the rest of our lives wondering about it and what might have been. Actually we won't- you're not that important to us but we'll spend a little time wondering and I don't want that. So go talk to her. If you want and know that you'll be good to her. And are not afraid of getting your arse kicked and then you're genitalia removed. Because that's what'll happen to you if you hurt her again."

_When every happy plot ends with a marriage knot  
And there's no knot for me_

Except she hadn't said that. Any of that. Instead after the polite questions they had carried on dancing talking occasionally in that terrible polite English manner about truly English things such as the weather.

Why hadn't she said that? She would have wanted Jane to that for her. But then maybe Charlie wasn't deserving of her until he realised that for himself. After their dance he had gone on to ask someone else to dance leaving her at the sidelines once again. It was probably a better place for her, it didn't give her the opportunity to say stupid things but let her reflect and ultimately regret them.

"You look deep in thought." Chris had sidled next to her.

"Yeah, just thinking."

"That's generally what the term 'deep in thought' normally means."

"Ha ha."

"So what were you thinking about? My brother? You got the hots for him now?"

"Nope, just his best friend." She turned and winked at him, smiling.

"Right." There was a nod. His jaw was stiff and unsmiling.

"Aren't you going to ask me to dance?" Lizzie turned to Chris. With anyone else she would not have dared to ask this question after all 'decorum' did not allow it, but this was Chris, she could laugh around with him.

"No. Not right now." And with that he walked away.

What was up with him? Why was he acting so strange? And where had he walked away, in a huff to? Oh look, there he was standing next to Giana who in turn was talking to a young man. A young man with whom she had just happened to have danced with, twice.

"So shall we skulk out the crowd? Since we've both been abandoned by our partners?" Andrea was suddenly standing next to her niece who hadn't realised that she was standing on her own, stupidly. She looked around and saw James looking very uncomfortable surrounded by a gaggle of middle aged woman who were leaning in rather too close for comfort. Lizzie never thought about, not unless she wanted to mentally scar herself, but she supposed her uncle was rather good looking.

"Sure. Let's start with ten o'clock. Should someone that age be wearing something like that?"

No was the obvious answer as the elderly woman in the bright orange pink combo that was just a little bit tight and a little bit low cut.

Andrea snorted. "Still it's got to be better than the woman standing next to the man with the beard."

They snorted and then realised that they were being bitchy.

"So what about over there?" Andrea gestured with her finger.

"oh yeah?"

"In love with... there?" She pointed subtly again so as not to alert anyone who might have known either of the parties involved.

"Definitely," Lizzie nodded with a smile. "For quite awhile I would think."

"And the feelings are returned."

"Yes, but a little hesitantly I think."

"Oh yes, only just realised it I would have thought. Wanted to pretend it wasn't happening. Not about to let his feelings known either. Can't imagine why," she laughed slightly along with her niece.

James had then returned and claimed a dance with his niece who had then gone on to dance with Richard and then his brother Michael as well as one or two men who introduced themselves until they were glared at by Will. He had then claimed her for their second dance which had flowed well, as had the rest of the evening.

All too soon the ball was over and feeling rather high on life Lizzie and her family left. Lizzie felt incredibly good about the world and everything; she didn't even care about Caroline and all her attempts to dance with Will. Andrea was in similar spirits as she had finally had the opportunity to dance with Henry Fitzwilliam.

Andrea had now decided that should Will or Chris not work out, Richard was the one Lizzie had to marry if only so she had the opportunity to dance with Henry again at the wedding. She then realised that he would of course come to his nephew's wedding and that she would get to dance with him then. And, judging from the way Will had acted around Lizzie that event wouldn't be that far away.

******

Will Darcy had been feeling like that all evening and into the following morning which was why he was humming slightly as he walked down the corridor despite the fact that it was raining and early. He'd had to restrain himself from going earlier. The cleaner Nicola who saw him, would definitely described his step as having a spring in it before it stopped as he came across room 246 and saw that the door was slightly ajar. Not sure what to do he knocked gently on the bedroom door and after awhile when there was no response, he pushed it open.

"Lizzie?" He stuck his head round the door not wanting to intrude or step into an embarrassing situation.

He heard a faint sound and decided to investigate further, should she be injured.

"Lizzie? Are you ok?" It was a stupid question as any fool could tell that something was wrong.

She was sitting on the bed, her face white and in shock, clutching her phone in one hand. Looking around the room he saw that it was chaotic and her suitcase was lying open at the foot of the bed and clothes had been chucked in randomly.

"Lizzie?" She still hadn't responded to him or made any sign that she knew that he was there. He touched her shoulder, lightly. Perhaps this was the wrong thing to do, they did say never to touch or wake sleepwalkers, but she turned to him suddenly as though woken from her trance.

He was stunned to see tears forming in her eyes.

"Lizzie, what's wrong?" he asked more urgently.

"Will," and her voice cracked a little, "What are you doing here?"

"I came to see you. I thought we could spend the day together. Has something happened?" He was looking at her with his deep searching eyes, desperately trying to get to the bottom of whatever had caused her to act like this.

"No, no," she shook her head. He looked at her deeply. Her forehead crinkled, her face twisted up and suddenly her shoulders were shaking as she tried to hold in the tears.

Looking around, he suddenly realised how absurd it was, him just standing there in his coat with his umbrella from the rain whilst she was sat there. He shrugged it off and sat next to her, putting his arm around her and holding her body as it became wracked with sobs.

"Lizzie you have to tell me what's wrong."

"Nothing's wrong I'm fine." This was such a blatant lie that he wasn't sure what to do.

"Lizzie," he pulled her away from him so that she could see properly into his eyes. "Tell me."

"Nothing, it's just some news from home. I'm going to have to go. I'm sorry but I've really got to leave Derbyshire."

"Even though nothing's happened?" He asked coolly not believing what had happened.

"I'm sorry," her voice cracked again.

"Look, maybe it's something I can help with."

She had been trying, really she had tried to remain emotionless but at this point she gave in and buried herself further into him.

"No there's nothing you can do, nothing anyone can do."

Will could remember Giana being hysterical and over dramatic, he supposed that at certain times all women were, but he had never expected this from Lizzie. Certainly he had never seen anyone lose control like this.

"I'm sure I can help." He wanted her to open up to him, tell him everything that was wrong so that he could fix it and save her but it didn't look like that was going to happen. He needed to prove to her that he could be that guy for her.

"You can't." And she started crying harder, harder than he would have thought possible, totally inconsolable.

"Lizzie?" A very worried looking Andrea stood at the door with her own suitcase. "Are you ready?" "Will?" she stare in shock as she came into the room.

"I uh came to check on Lizzie." He wanted to ask her Aunt all sorts of questions but couldn't do that with her still in the room.

"I'm afraid we've got to go," Andrea _was _apologetic but there was nothing that she could do; it was not her news to tell and Lizzie had begged for secrecy. "Could you help her down to the lobby where James is whilst I finish here?"

"You're leaving right now?"

Andrea merely nodded and began packing up the suitcase.

Lizzie still not talking but still clutching at him, he led her out of the room and down in the lift to where her Uncle who two looked worried, was waiting in the hallway. He handed her over, eyeing them both wearily before he headed back up to the room hoping to get more answers from Andrea.

Having finished packing in record speed, Andrea was doing a final search of the room when Will re-entered. "Where are you going?"

"Back to London." There was no reason as to why he shouldn't know that information.

"Lizzie will be ok, won't she?" It wasn't so much a question as a request that Andrea looked after her.

"I'll do my best," but he could see that she did not seem very convinced.

He watched as she walked out the door knowing that there was nothing more that he could do when he found himself following her.

"Andrea, you will let me know if there's anything, and I mean anything that I can do, won't you."

"Of course, Will," she looked up at him properly for the first time that day and then she was gone.

He had no idea what to do know and he didn't really have a full grasp on what had just happened. He walked to the end of the room where a fire door gave him the opportunity to look out over the car park. Pulling the curtain back he could see their hire car pulling away and he could just see Lizzie curled up in the back seat, her face pressed against the window. He raised his hand as though to wave goodbye to her but then lowered it, feeling stupid as he realised she couldn't see him.

Lizzie felt the cool glass window on her cheek and pulled the rug further around her. She couldn't tell him; couldn't burden him with this. It was too much. Too much for him to handle. Too much for anyone to handle, especially her. She believed that if she left without an explanation without thought or word it would be easier. Make healing faster and quicker. It was an ancient belief that had been proved wrong many times and was probably going to be proved wrong again.

"Fuck!" he slammed his hand on the windowsill and after one last look turned and walked away.

**Sorry Folks had to happen at some point. Please don't hate me too much. Unfortunately bliss can't go on forever.**

**P.S there is no Lydia (not sure if this reassures you)**

**Please Review- I'd love to know what you think. **


	23. What the hell is going on?

**Sorry for lateness and mistakes, editing late at night. **

Windows to the soul

"What the hell is going on?"

Perhaps the most expressive part of the human body is the eyes. Some will disagree by claiming that eyes tell us nothing and that the answer is more likely to be the mouth. The mouth speaks words, many of which we believe are the truth. Yet we cannot always tell the difference between the words we hear, the supposed meaning behind them, the actual meaning behind them and the words and theirmeanings that we would most like to hear.

Of course there is the body, the tensions as people react to different situations and how we can read this. But can one really tell? A tremor of the hand; anger or fear? The stiffening of the back- attraction or merely the underlying problems of having a too heavy rucksack for too long?

No, the really secrets and truths are hidden in the face. A smile can be deceptive; a frown equally so- especially with an inexperienced young girl with her first pair of tweezers.

But the eyes.

You cannot make your eyes lie. They will always tell the truth. This is why they are known as the windows to the soul because they show exactly what you are thinking.

And right now Will Darcy's soul was looking bleak. His eyes black and stormy.

Giana looked up as her brother walked into the living room with a slight frown on his face. This was his first act of deception. He was annoyed and worried but the frown that he was currently wearing was the frown similar to the one he had worn as a teenager when he couldn't do his advanced algebra.

He wanted his sister to react, needed someone to talk to and so was not making his face in his usual business-meeting- shut- down mode.

He had got up and dressed very early in the morning and left. He hadn't told her where he was going but she had an inkling that it was to see Lizzie. She was still in her pyjamas and was the only one in the house up.

Caroline had got rather drunk at the ball and so was most likely sleeping it off. Charlie was probably upstairs, reading or something. He'd always been a bit of a light weight and had drunk more than he usually did last night. Richard, Michael and Amy were at a late breakfast with Henry and Celia Fitzwilliam. And Chris? Chris had spent about ten minutes also in the room talking awkwardly before going out to buy a paper. Of all the excuses in all the world, that was pretty lame. When had Chris ever cared about newspapers?

"Where did you go?" She flicked the channel on the television and there was sudden, loud canned laughter as an old re-run of Friends came on.

Will gave his sister a look and she muted it. "I went to see Lizzie."

"Oh?"

"Yes," he slumped over the arm of the sofa. She turned to him.

"If I ask how she is, am I going to get an answer I like?" She was worried about him. He had been so happy and now it seemed that something bad had happened and wrecked that.

"No."

At this point she shut the television off completely so that she wasn't distracted by the soundless movements on the screen.

"What happened?"

"She's gone."

Giana looked at him again. "What happened?"

"I don't know. She had to go."

"She didn't say why?"

"No." He closed his eyes slightly and was reminded the look on Lizzie's face with the tears streaming down her cheeks.

"Is she coming back?"

"I don't think so."

"Well it's kinda sudden, isn't it? But I guess they were always going to move on. You will be meeting up with her soon, won't you?"

Why wasn't his sister more concerened? Wasn't Lizzie her close friend?

"I don't know, Georgy. I don't think it was planned. Something's wrong."

She sat up fully and turned to him.

"What did she say?"

"Nothing. Just that she had to leave."

Giana reached for her phone which was lying on the table nearby and pressed a few buttons until it was dialling a number. She waited a moment and a flash of annoyance crossed her face. "She's not answering."

"The phone must be turned off." His voice was dead.

"No, the phone rang. If it was off then it would have gone straight to voicemail."

"Let me try."

He hadn't even programmed Lizzie's number into his phone and had to ask Giana what the number was. Surely that was a bad sign? She didn't answer him but then unlike when Giana rang she wouldn't have recognized the number coming up on the screen.

"Hello?" There was a sound at the front door and then Chris snuck his head round the room to the living room. "Will," he jumped when he saw him sitting there. "I thought you'd gone out."

"And now I'm back." Will didn't really care if he was being rude or sarcastic.

Chris raised his eyebrows slightly. Giana gave him a look of apology and a glance towards her brother with a slight bulge with her eyes towards Chris of excuse.

"Something wrong?" Chris looked nervously between the two.

"No." This was his second major act of deception. He had of course not been telling his sister the truth, the whole complete truth but that wasn't lying. It was just how a person survived. Now he was flat out lying to Chris.

Giana rolled her eyes again. "Lizzie's had to go home and he's sulking because of that."

"Georgy!" He turned towards her, eyes blazing.

Chris hovered by the door in that awkward manner that always seems to happen when a guest is staying at a house and there are complicated family tensions between the hosts deeper than....

"_Will I was watching that!" He had snatched the remote away from his sister._

"_Too bad, there's a game on."_

"_So? There's always a game on. Why can't you record it?"_

"_Because then I will find out the score without having seen the game. Why can't you record whatever you're watching?"_

"_Because it's a film and it's halfway through and by the time I get round to watching it, I won't remember the first half."_

"_Well Chris is here and he's a guest and he would rather watch sports."_

"_Chris loves this film, don't you Chris?"_

"_No, he would rather watch sports- wouldn't you?"_

_They had both been turned to him, waiting expectantly for his answer._

Well, right now, he would rather be in that situation. At the time he had said that he didn't fancy watching television and wanted to walk.

"I guess she was always going to have to go at some point. It's a shame that it had to be so early."

Chris didn't voice the fact that he thought it was strange that Lizzie hadn't mentioned that she was going early. Nor did he want to start teasing Darcy for Giana's open admission of the fact that he had known for so long; Fitzwilliam Darcy liked Elizabeth Bennet.

Giana raised her eyebrows at her brother and gave a head tilt, nodding her head forward encouragingly asking her brother with her eyes to voice his feelings more openly.

Will smiled slightly merely as response and asked if he could borrow the paper that Chris had been out to buy. When Giana commented that he didn't normally read a newspaper but hit the BBC website or bought the financial times, Will had shrugged and said in what some would refer to as a rather sharp tone, "Well I have time to read the newspaper now, don't I?

Yes, this was William Darcy's third deception of the day. It was fairly minor. It was also the most pointless deception. Chris pretty much knew that they were dating, it had been fairly obvious. Even if they weren't dating Darcy was obviously completely in love with her.

Chris also guessed that something was wrong with Lizzie as he had thought that she was leaving tomorrow. He was surprised that she would get up and go that early.

The reason behind Will Darcy's deception? The reason he was committing all these lies and wasn't screaming from the rooftops ;

"No, I have no time to read the newspaper! And of course I'm sulking. I've just had the only woman I have ever loved and could ever even consider spending the rest of my life with sob on my shoulder. And I have no idea why!"

Because he was afraid. That was the simple truth, and that was what showed in his eyes. Fear.

Why? Because of the real reason he had been going to speak to Lizzie. He had wanted to see her of course, but he had also wanted to talk about the future. Specifically, their future.

He didn't want her to go travelling; well at least he didn't want her to go travelling without him. Hated the thought of them being separated by countries and continents and thought that she should know this.

Did he want Chris to know this? No, because Chris was too involved. Chris was the one going travelling with. Chris was the one with whom she had made those plans all those months ago. Chris was her friend. Had always been her friend. Had never insulted her. Like himself.

He was right to not want Chris to know. Mainly because, had Chris rung to find out what was going on, that would have been the one phone call that Lizzie would have answered.

Not that she would have told the truth. But that would have been the call that she would have answered.

*****

Lizzie sat in the back seat and watched the droplets on the window race each other across and down the glass.

"Li-" Andrea started to say and then rethought. Well that's what it seemed like to Lizzie but in actual fact Andrea just wanted Lizzie to respond.

She barely looked up.

The phone lying on the seat next to her vibrated again. And again, was left unanswered.

Andrea looked as though she were about to speak again but her husband laid his hand on her arm to stop her. It didn't work.

"Is that Jane?"

"Unknown number."

"Are you going to answer?"

"No. I'm not really in the mood to talk to anyone right now."

"Lizzie- maybe you should talk. Maybe it'll help."

There was a flash of brown eyes in the mirror and Andrea was quiet.

Lizzie was a mess. Yes, she certainly didn't look her best right now, there were still traces of tears on her cheeks but that wasn't exactly what was wrong. Emotionally she had never been more fucked up.

It was as though she was one of those great big abstract paintings. The ones with the massive canvases and the bright splashes of vibrant colour- oil paints. Except that they weren't all just the bright colours, they were also the dark, gloomy ones that didn't fit in and not just hiding around the edges but in the middle taking over the painting.

It also wasn't supposed to be an abstract painting.

It was supposed to be a bright, colourful cheerful one, children playing, laughing a pretty none descript watercolour of a sunset or a hot summer's day.

Her painting was tilted and the frame didn't fit, it was wonky and broken. There was a small slash in the painting corner that seemed to be growing. That's what Lizzie was feeling.

And she couldn't tell anyone. That was the general rule in life. As close as she was to her Aunt and Uncle she couldn't scream and act in a selfish bratty way towards them.

It just wasn't done.

Jane she could and had screamed at, her mother, yes, they had definitely argued over the years but not with Andrea. If only she would stop being so nice then Lizzie was less likely to kill her.

******

By mid afternoon just as the Gardiners were pulling up at a service station, there was a flurry of activity in Pemberley. Cleaners had arrived to sort out the ballroom and the caterers were packing up the glasses and dishes. The tables were being dismantled, their clothes folded and candles carefully placed in boxes.

Mr Darcy, Owner of Pemberley was overseeing all of this.

In reality Will Darcy, confused young man was standing around watching as everything and everyone in the room went pass him, feeling fairly useless. It wasn't like he could help at all, yet he felt that he had to be there. He had left Giana alone with Chris and gone up to his office and rung Lizzie again. He had also emailed her. And then tried, with no success, to find Jane Bennet's phone number.

When he had come back downstairs his sister had persuaded him to eat something but he had shrugged her off. He was now waiting for Richard to arrive back. It shouldn't be long now, he looked at his watch again.

And there it was. That annoying tune Richard insisted on whistling all the time. He was just strolling along, not a care in the world.

"Oh hey, Will." He was surprised to see him standing there waiting for him.

"How are your parents?"

"Good. They're going to spend the day pottering around town. Michael and Amy should be here soon but Amy wanted to go to some shop."

"I think we should get going soon. We don't want to spend the whole day sitting in traffic." Will hoped that if he made it seem as though this had been the plan all along Richard wouldn't realise what was going on and wouldn't start asking a lot of irritating questions. This was why he chose to start with the casual questions.

"Get going?"

"Back to London."

"London?"

"Yes, of course Richard." His tone was impatient. "You know this is one of our busiest times of year and what with the new drug and everything. Now that we've got FDA approval we can put it on the market and start looking at some offers. The ones I've seen haven't been anywhere good enough."

There was a raise of Richard's eyebrows. "Well surely someone else can handle that. Isn't this what we pay these people for?"

Mentally he was running through his mind as to what exactly his cousin had said about their return. He was certain that he was supposed to be at Pemberley for another five days if not a week. And this certainly wasn't their busiest time. Sure, pretty soon it would be when they would have to begin looking at the flu vaccine but that was fairly routine; there were always vaccines that had to be sorted any time of the year. At least it wasn't hay fever season. Maybe Will was worried about Swine Flu and whether the company would have enough Tamiflu produced, should the government use it. But, no he had seen the paperwork and knew that also couldn't be the problem.

"Yes, but we do need to be there to oversee these things. And anyway most of the people that we pay to deal with this were here last night."

"So why wasn't the plan made to go back to London today, last week?"

"Things have changed. And before you claim that it's not fair, I know it's not, but this is the reason why you take home the biggest salary."

"Right." Richard could see the steely look in Will's eye and knew that he didn't want to argue with him. "But we can't go today."

"Why?" This was said curtly and could have easily been 'why not' given the tone.

"Oh c'mon Will. Whatever mission you're on you can't just leave Giana and go. She's not had a day with you at Pemberley without guests or chaos. What about all you're other guests? You're not just going to leave them here."

"No I guess not."

Richard was right. He couldn't just do that. Besides Lizzie would just be driving back to London today. There was nothing that could happen in a day, was there?

But then hadn't he thought that last night? And look how that had turned out.

Still, he knew of one conversation starter that would get Charlie interested in going back to London.

"But," he began talking again as Richard went to move away. "I do want to try to get back as soon as possible."

"Of course, because you've been so dedicated to work these past few weeks whilst a certain brunettes been here. Speaking of which, wasn't Lizzie supposed to be popping by today?"

Will's already tight face impossibly seemed to tighten.

"I don't think she can make it."

"Oh? Why, has she gone home?"

There was no answer given and Richard decided to be kind and said. "She did say that she would be moving on soon. Scotland I think."

"That's probably it, then," His voice was hollow and it was he who walked away from Richard.

******

It hadn't taken much to persuade Charlie to go back to London; Will hadn't even told him the full story. He had mentioned Jane and the fact that Lizzie had said she seemed unhappy but hadn't told of his involvement. Caroline had been so fed up with having nothing to do in Derbyshire and Charlie felt as though they hadn't been to Netherfield for a while and so they all went.

Well not all of them. Richard, who wasn't not talking to his cousin but wasn't he usually bantering self offered to fly out to the New York branch of Darcy Pharmaceuticals. Giana went with him as her last time in New York before starting school. Will was relieved. Not that he wanted his sister out of the way, but it would make it a lot easier.

He wanted to stay with Charlie for awhile and so took the coward's way out by not telling him what he had done. He promised that he would say something to him as soon as he could.

Charlie had invited everyone to stay at Netherfield. Oddly enough Chris had decided to join them despite having his own flat in London. He still had time off work and was enjoying it, not answering phone calls or checking his email.

Will had still not managed to get in touch with contact. And he's tried everything. Phoned. Emailed. Gone round to her flat. She wasn't in. She wasn't in the next night. Or the one after that. Oddly enough Jane didn't seem to be at her own flat. On the fourth day he found a neighbour who claimed he hadn't seen either Bennet girl that week. Maybe they were on holiday or something? He suggested.

His mind was stewing this as his mind went over what had happened. Her tear filled eyes kept flashing in front of him.

Where was she?

What had happened?

What had he done that was so bad that she wouldn't contact him?

"There is a young lady here to see Mr Christopher Bingley," Charlie's butler, Geoffrey was standing in the doorway of the living room, having just answered the doorbell before he went off his shift that Saturday evening. Will jumped slightly as he spoke, so immersed in his thoughts.

Charlie, Caroline and Claire looked at each other confused; why would someone want to meet Chris here? It wasn't like he didn't have his own flat. Nobody knew he was here.

"He's in the shower right now; can you ask her if she would like to come in?" Charlie asked. He, Hurst, Will and Chris had been playing a game of tennis before Chris and Hurst had gone in leaving the other two to finish.

Will came down the stairs his hair still slightly wet from the shower he had just had, much to the interest of Caroline at the same time that Geoffrey came back into the room to inform them that the lady had declined their offer.

This was strange, it was a rather damp miserable evening and this person must have travelled someway if they wanted to speak to Chris so it must be an important matter. No one was really sure what to do and so they all just sat there in this awkward silence each with their own theories as to how this woman could be connected to Chris and what she could want.

Caroline, realising that if she pulled back the curtain from the window to see the woman standing in the porch, she would also allow herself to be seen, called Geoffrey back into the room.

"What does this woman look like?"

"Blonde, fairly tall, very pretty."

It sounded just like Chris's type except for one thing...

"But Chris prefers brunettes," Claire Hurst seemed confused.

Will scowled momentarily, "I know he does," he thought to himself and stopped as he thought of Elizabeth Bennet again. The time away had gone quickly yet so slowly as he searched to find her. The drive back from Derbyshire had been torture for him.

"Chris, there's some woman here to see you." Charlie informed him as he came down the stairs.

"What?" Chris was running through his mind as to who it could be. Lizzie? Maybe, he hadn't heard from her in ages. But, then, he reasoned she wouldn't just turn up after all she had his mobile number and flat address even though he hadn't been there in a while. Besides wouldn't she be contacting Darcy? She certainly hadn't given the way he was gripping that book and frowning and his general stroppy behaviour.

"Some blonde standing on the porch. She wouldn't come in."

"A blonde?" Chris couldn't think of many blondes he knew except that one he had known... in ahem rather a more biblical sense. She had seemed fine with the idea of it being a one night stand though and it had been a while, a very long while... unless she was pregnant? No, of course not they had used protection. Still, you never know. Actual come to think about it, it was about six months ago. Ludicrous idea.

He shook his head as if trying to shake these daunting thought out of his ears.

"Did she uh give her name?"

"No sir. Shall I go and ask her to what this is concerning?"

Chris nodded and sank weakly into the nearest chair. Caroline raised her eyebrows at Charlie who looked at Will very confused. Everyone was acting weird. Chris wasn't known to be around women a lot. That was more his brother's domain.

Geoffrey returned, "She wouldn't give her name but said that it concerned Zsa Zsa and that you would know who that was. Something about how a plan might have to be postponed?"

Chris frowned then looked thoughtful and his head un-creased and then frowned again. Will also seemed to frown, something about that name was definitely familiar. A plan that might have to be postponed? That certainly sounded like Lizzie's trip. Or had he reached the stage where he was that obsessed with her? Lizzie certainly wasn't blonde.

"Right well I better go deal with it." He got up and left the room.

The moment he had left Caroline turned in disgust to her brother. "A prostitute? That's what that name sound like. Here? Charles you must do something about this!" her voice was getting louder and shriller. "What on earth is he thinking?"

"Caroline! We don't know that Chris had anything to do with a prostitute!" Although Charlie had to admit the name was very strange. "You jump to ridiculous conclusions."

It was true Caroline had drunk far more than she had intended.

Chris returned two minutes later looking very shaky and hurrying around the room strangely. Charlie and Clare looked at him in concern whilst Hurst was lying practically catatonic, Caroline glared at him and Will was frowning unsure of what was happening.

"Chris, is everything ok?"

"I need my wallet. Have you seen it anywhere? I know I left it on this table."

Ok, this was definitely not a good sign to prove that the woman wasn't a prostitute but Chris was his brother so Charlie felt like he had to help. Also the idea had been fairly preposterous.

"Maybe it's with my jacket and car keys. Look Charlie I'm sorry but I've got to go." He suddenly spotted something by a stack of papers and grabbed it. "I'll explain later if I can, sorry."

"We can take my car." A woman's voice called from the hall where the front door was open. It sounded slightly familiar to Charlie only it was far more raspy and croaky.

Chris darted back into the hallway and explained that he would follow, she would want to get back as soon as possible and it made sense if there were two cars. They all heard the front door shut.

Having now found his jacket, keys and wallet Chris returned to the room to tell them that he was going out and wasn't sure when he would be back. However the rest of the room were waiting for more of an explanation.

"Look, Charlie I'm sorry but I can't stay for dinner. There's something I need to try to sort out."

Charlie nodded confused as to what could have happened to make him rush off like that especially as they were having roast beef and apple crumble, particular favourites of Chris's.

"Going to have some fun with that Janet girl are you?" this comment came from Hurst causing everyone to stare at him.

"Well wasn't that her name Janet, Jo something or other. Came to stay for a while when we had the snow." He turned back to the racing report.

A sudden rushing sound filled Charlie's ears and he turned to his brother, eyes blazing as he realised where he had heard that voice.

Will noticing this, shut his book and stood to break up the fight that seemed inevitable.

Why on earth had Hurst been the one to realise that? Why hadn't Charlie?

"Chris?" Charlie's voice was eerily without emotion and everyone could sense that there was a fight coming. The whole room seemed to tense up.

Chris stood closer to Charlie and stuck his chin out defiantly. "Yes Charlie. Yes it was Jane. I'm sure you'd like to talk about it but I can't right now."

The fact that Chris hadn't backed down made Charlie step back slightly.

"But... but. That's Jane. What the hell are _you _doing with Jane?"

"Nothing Charlie. I wouldn't do that to you. But you know it wouldn't be wrong. You're the one who left _her_."

"I... left...her," Charlie seemed dazed but then paused. "That still doesn't make it ok for you-"

"Yes you did leave her." Chris interrupted. "And in my opinion it was an incredibly dumb thing to do. I have to go."

"Don't come back." Charlie called to his retreating figure.

Will raised his eyebrows in surprise at Caroline who looked equally shocked. That wasn't exactly what he had expected to happen that evening.

Charlie stormed out.

They heard Chris' car revving in the drive.

*******

"Thanks.....yeah.

No we'll definitely have to catch up next time in England...

... yeah...

...I'm sorry..

.right. Ok then bu-bye"

"What are you doing?" James asked as he saw Andrea leaning against the wall a phone in her hand.

"Cancelling on my cousin."

"Oh. "

He looked at her for a moment and then walked over to her and wrapped his arms around her.

They didn't speak.

He felt her stiffen beneath his arms as she took a breath, to calm her shaking hands.

"You know it'll be ok. There's no reason to panic, yet. Cancer survival rates are so much better than they were ten years ago, and everything was fine then."

**So I'm evil- aren't I? Well as Douglas Adams said Don't Panic! All will be explained. I will try to update earlier but it's unlikely. I wasn't going to add that bit on the end but I did just for you. **

**I saw the Banksy Exhibition. If you're in England I recommend you see it. The queues are three hours long though but it' s very good and due to end soon. **

**Please Review , there are a few things I'm not sure about in this chapter so would love to know what you are thinking. **


	24. Explanations are never enough

Thank you for your reviews. Sorry for worrying you about Lizzie.

**I must apologise in advance for the morbidness of the next few chapters. I'm sorry but that's just the way it seems to be going. It will get happier. I tried to get this up quickly but the next one will be awhile. **

Chris walked into the hospital a little uncertainly. He didn't like hospitals at all. He chuckled to himself slightly; he supposed nobody did. He'd had a mate, years ago who was training to be a doctor and he always reckoned that one day he would do research to prove scientifically that hospitals were the most depressing places for a person to be.

The moment Jane had mentioned it, he remembered the building and known exactly where to follow her to. It was now, that he was inside the building which still seemed to have this hum and buzz of people despite the fact that it was eight o'clock on a Sunday eveing.

So Lizzie was in hospital? He wasn't quite sure what to do with that information. He followed Jane who had found a parking space with more ease than him and arrived in the building earlier. He was barely aware of his surrounding when she stopped abruptly outside the door.

"I need to talk to you."

"Go on."

Jane looked as though she very much didn't want to go on.

"Lizzie needs you right now. But she's not going to admit that. And she's probably going to be difficult or unresponsive and I need you to be able to handle that otherwise you might as well leave now." The last part was said without much conviction. Jane Bennet wasn't used to telling people what to do.

She pointed him in towards a bed where curtains were drawn around the end.

It wasn't a film or a television program so she wasn't the only one in a small private room. It was a large rectangular room with big bay windows at one end.

He walked down there feeling incredibly self conscious and curious.

The curtains were drawn. He wasn't sure what to do. Obviously the curtains were drawn for privacy and, with that weird plastic type of fabric that hospitals used because it could be cleaned easily it wasn't as though he could knock on it. Gently he coughed.

"Yes?" Lizzie's voice called.

"Uh Lizzie?"

He might as well announce himself.

"It's Chris."

The curtain was pulled back and she looked him up and down.

Well, this wasn't what he had expected. She was lying casually on the bed, books surrounding her. She wasn't in a gown but it looked as though she had just changed out of one as there was a heap of blue cloth lying at the foot of the bed.

Chris' mind was in a strange place. Here he was with one of his closest friends lying in hospital and all he could think of where these ridiculous questions.

Where all hospitals painted this strange blue/green colour?

Did they all have gowns that were blue? Was it to match the walls? Why on earth did it remind him of the Virgin Mary?

Was the phrase hospital corners invented at a hospital? Why?

When was the first hospital built?

Where was the first hospital built?

Why on earth was he thinking things like this?

'Because you're trying to avoid the issue at hand.' A voice in his head told him.

'What that old joke; what's the first sign of madness; talking to yourself.

And the second? Little orange dots on the palm of your hand.

The recipient of the joke was then supposed to turn over their hands and start looking just in time for the joke teller to say "and the third sign is looking for them."'

Okay, Chris cut it out right now and pay attention to Lizzie.

"So Jane went and found you? Typical of her. But, then, if someone answered their phone or responded to emails," Her tone became accusatory but was laughing slightly behind her obvious facade.

"I've been on holiday. Taking a break. What going on?" He eyed her.

She was wearing jeans and an old faded what would have been bright blue t-shirt that said 'Forget Love I'd rather fall in chocolate.' Chris had to wonder what the specific reason for her wearing that was. What, exactly, she was thinking about Darcy right now.

Lizzie turned her head to the left and the right, "Let's go somewhere else. The walls have ears." She whispered as though she were some sort of secret agent and then laughed. This was very strange behaviour given what Jane had told him about how she was ill and in hospital.

"I'm not really sure we can leave."

Surely Jane had got it wrong. Patients couldn't just get up off the ward and go. And surely gowns were mandatory?

"Yeah don't worry about it. Anyone tried to stop us, I'll hold em you punch- deal?"

She smiled cheekily again.

He frowned worriedly again.

A nurse was passing, a middle aged slightly plump blonde with shoulder length hair. Her eyes flickered on the bed where Lizzie was sliding out of it, slipping into her flip-flops grabbing the book nearest to her which had the penguin classic mark on it.

Chris looked quizzically at the nurse but she smiled and made a notion for him to follow Lizzie.

"It's fine, go ahead. She can eat tonight, her next test won't be until the morning and she might as well enjoy her night."

Lizzie was already at the door.

"Oh and tell Jane to go home. That girl's spent far too much time hear already." She shook her head sadly.

"That's what I keep telling her." Lizzie had come back and stood next to Chris linking her arm around his.

The nurse gave Lizzie a look and nodded again with a particularly sad expression lingering in her eyes.

"She's already given up on me." She whispered to him and he looked at her. "C'mon slowpoke. The cafe on three isn't all bad. Hospital food is given such a bad rep. Some of it's actually on the same level as airplane food."

There was a system at the hospital to lead people to places using different colours to lead people to places. Yellow was the chosen colour for all food points. This included vending machines but mainly led to the cafe on three which Lizzie claimed had pretty decent coffee.

"We're off to see the wizard. The wonderful wizard of Oz. Because, because, because the wonderful Wizard of Oz." She was singing under her breath and laughing.

As they got there Chris started to realise the signs of the hospital emptying out. People obviously visited on Sunday, there were families beginning to gravitate away from the hospital having completed their weekend chore.

"What time do visiting hours end?"

"9 o'clock but you can stay later. They like me, it won't be a problem."

"They like you, huh?" If she was smiling maybe he could smile as well.

"Yes, I'm very likeable." There was a pause. "And there not entirely sure what to do with me. There kinda having to give up. And they don't really like doing that."

There it was again. She was being deliberately enigmatic and confusing. Why?

"Ok, ok. I'll explain it all to you. I guess I owe you that. I suppose Jane told you I won't be going travelling with you."

He nodded. Jane hadn't explained why, just that she wouldn't be going.

"So when I was about seven, yeah I think I was seven, Jane got ill. It was one of those muggy summers. The stifling hot summers and I was bored. Actually I don't remember what the weather was like but it sounds better that way. Chocolate?"

"What?" Chris wasn't really aware of his surroundings as they reached the drink section of the queue for food.

"Do you want a hot chocolate?"

"Oh, sure."

They reached the till and Chris automatically pulled out his wallet to pay. "Let me."

"Oh good. I hadn't brought my purse. Not many shopping opportunities here."

"Right. Yes. Of course." He felt rather stupid. They got a seat near a window managing to get a view of London lit up at night as the sun was slowly fading.

"So where was I?"

"The summer you were seven."

"Yeah I was seven and bored. It was summer and we weren't going anywhere or doing anything. And then Jane got ill. Leukaemia."

She started to talk quickly so as not to worry him.

"It was fine. Well it wasn't fine at the time but once she got better it was all ok. We had to do a bone marrow trance-plant but it was all very successful. She's stayed in remission."

"That's great." It was but he had to wonder where it was leading to.

"Do you remember when we were at Netherfield? Well you weren't there when I arrived but I'd had a call from your brother that Jane had gone all dizzy. I rushed right over- it's one of the signs of Leukaemia but it turned out to be nothing. I was just being an overprotective sister, you know?"

"Mmhm." He was waiting for her to get to the point.

"It turns out I was wrong but that whole over protective thing goes both ways. Jane thought that I looked pretty ill and made me get a blood test. It came back negative and we all thought that she was just being a bit ridiculous and cautious."

Chris took a gulp of drink just to have something to do and then realised how hot it was.

"Except that it wasn't negative. It turns out there was a mix up. I mean how ridiculous is that? A mix up. The blood tests were swapped accidentally in the lab. No wonder they claim the NHS is in trouble."

"How did they realise something was wrong?"

"It's stupid, really stupid. A doctor was sorting out some files and saw the results that had been placed in there. He saw that the blood type was labelled as O when I'm negative A. He then got the lab to recheck results and saw the white blood cell counts. Not exactly a good level."

She took her own sip of her drink.

"So because it took so long the cancer spread. Leukaemia like Jane. A- L- L. Acute Lymphocytic leukaemia. It's a pretty rare form of Leukaemia in adults. And, well treatments don't look as though they'll work. I mean there's only so much they can do. I can't have a bone marrow transplant, because who would be a match? Jane, and that not going to work."

"There must be something they can do."

"It doesn't look like it."

"But what about this new drug?" He carefully avoided saying Darcy's name.

"It won't be on the market for at least another year. Nobody's offering enough money for it and anyway I probably wouldn't apply for it. Their starting it off in the states."

"Oh." Chris felt sick. He couldn't believe this was happening.

"Yeah it's a bit of a bummer," she smiled. "And you know what the worse thing is? Turns out Jane was right all along."

"Jane was right all along?" he repeated numbly as though in shock.

"Yeah I hate that. I'm the one who's supposed to be right. She's going to hold that over my head for ages. Still I guess she won't have long to hold it over my head."

"Lizzie...."

"Yeah I guess you're right. Jane's not the sort of person to hold something over my head."

"What's wrong with you?" He couldn't believe she was making jokes at a time like this.

"Didn't you hear me? I have acute lymphocytic leukaemia."

"Lizzie...."

"Their starting chemotherapy soon." She said this like it was a conversation piece. "Isn't it strange, I keep looking at this book?"

She pointed at a copy of Sense and Sensibility.

"Have you seen the film? Written by Emma Thompson? There's this one scene where Marianne- Kate Winslet, gets ill and you see Emma's face as she's walking out of the room holding a bowl of blood from all the bloodletting."

He had no idea what scene she was on about.

"We all think that's such a stupid idea. Bloodletting- getting rid of the bad blood. But that's basically what Chemotherapy is. Poison entering a person's system to get rid of the good as well as the bad. "She paused. "You know some men just can't handle their arsenic."

"What?"

"It's from Chicago."

"Why do you keep doing that? Making bad jokes?" He couldn't believe her. This wasn't Lizzie Bennet behaviour.

"It's a defence mechanism, ok?" her tone was harsher and full of emotion. "At least I can say that I bought Jane and Charlie together again."

"What?"

"Look," she turned and pointed over to the entrance of the cafe. There Charlie was talking to Jane Bennet who looked very close to tears.

"I guess he must have followed me here."

Lizzie's face looked blank.

"Jane went to Netherfield to get me."

"What? I thought she went to your flat."

"No," Chris was looking over at his brother. "She came over to Netherfield. Wouldn't come in or tell anyone what her name was. Said it was concerning Zsa Zsa. I didn't realise what it was about until I saw here. I'd forgotten the nickname."

"My alter ego," she smiled. "Let's go."

"Go?"

"Yeah, somewhere more private."

He hadn't finished his drink but he realised that he didn't seem to want it now."

She led him to the lift and they went up three floors on to a roof terrace that was a lot more private. The view had been good from the Cafe, but higher up it was even greater.

"I'm sorry about the travelling."

He wanted to say 'it's ok' as he normally would but he couldn't bring himself to say it.

She leaned against the window. "Do you think Jane and Charlie will get back together?"

He shrugged, watching her carefully.

"She should be angry at him I suppose, but I don't think that'll happen. She needs him now." Her voice wavered slightly.

"Lizzie..."

"I know Chris. I know."

He came nearer to her. "Why did you decide to tell me today?"

"I just wanted you to know. I thought you deserved that."

"But you don't even know if it's definite." He was desperate for her to give him some sign that she was being melodramatic.

"It is Chris. And you deserved more than just a phone call or an email. I guess you don't read those tiny little death announcements in the Telegraph, so you might never have found out. "

Did she really believe there was no hope?

But then if she was going to act in this way he might as well ask the tough questions.

"And Darcy? Doesn't he deserve to know?" His tone was cold.

She turned away from him.

"Lizzie, come on, he needs to know."

"No he doesn't."

"Lizzie."

She walked away from him.

"He loves you." Chris didn't want to be the one telling her for the first time but it was needed.

"Lizzie. You have to tell him."

"I'm not going to do that to him."

"Lizzie..."

"No. Chris. It's not fair on him."

"It's not fair on him? What having you lying to him."

"I'm not lying to him."

"Yes, you are. You have to tell him."

"Why? So he can watch as I slowly fade out of life, throwing up and becoming weaker and weaker. I'm not going to do that to him."

"You love him." Chris had suspected this but hadn't totally thought it but that comment had just given him proof.

"Yes fine, but I don't think I can do that to him. It's going to ruin his future."

"Lizzie."

"Don't Chris, don't. It's easier for everyone this way."

"Easier?"

"Yes. I'm not going to hurt him like that. It's bad enough already. It's easier for him if I slip away."

"Aren't you being sort of selfish?"

"Aren't I being sort of selfish? No in fact I'm being incredibly selfless. I don't want him to be here if it hurts him; don't want to have see me go through that knowing he can't help. And yeah maybe I am being selfish. Maybe by doing this alone I get to help everyone. I get to be selfish at this stage."

He nodded not really understanding her reasoning.

"You can't tell him, Chris. You can't."

"I'm not going to make that promise Lizzie. You know I can't. Don't you owe it to him?"

She glared at him and then started to walk to the lifts.

"Where are you going?"

"I have to be back in my bed. I wouldn't want anyone to worry unnecessarily." Her tone was acidic.

He followed her as they went down the floors where on the third floor another person stepped in, Jane Bennet. Nobody spoke. Except when they got to the floor Lizzie was on Jane grabbed Chris' arm. Lizzie rolled her eyes and carried on without him.

"She told you, then?"

He nodded.

"Good. Well not good. I just didn't think she was going to. I really had to persuade her to. That's why I didn't tell you when I went to see you; sorry it was just her news to tell. I didn't mean to worry you."

Its fine. You didn't. Pissed off my brother though, but I gather that's all sorted out."

He eyed her carefully. Chris had never really looked at Jane Bennet. Lizzie was the much more vibrant, feisty sister but he was amazed at how strong she was right now. She wasn't crying, didn't appear angry, just polite and rather closed off.

She attempted a smile. "Who knows?"

"But her apologised, right?"

Her smile became bigger. "Yeah he did."

They stayed like that for a moment, smiling slightly, Jane obviously recollecting on her relationship with Charlie, Chris watching her and worrying.

"When did she find out?"

"Yesterday morning. I mean it's not totally definite, they are running more tests." Jane's tone was bright and to Chris this was the most heartbreaking part, the way she was clinging to hope.

"But?"

"It doesn't look good."

"It doesn't mean that we can't hope."

"Exactly. When I was ill they didn't think that there was a lot that they could do and that was fine. I mean it never came back, I've been in remission since then. And there was that guy. I forget his name but he came out of coma after like sixteen years. Miracles happen."

Chris nodded, suddenly not wanting to talk to Jane anymore. He wasn't sure he could cope with her hope.

"Jane?"

Charlie was there holding a muffin.

"I'll meet you in a minute. I just need to talk to Chris."

The two brothers eyed each other. Charlie gave Chris a nod. It was clear that they would need to have a long conversation.

"So," Jane turned back to him and Chris had to wonder if she'd wiped a tear or two away. "How much of a bitch was she?"

"Sorry?" That was the last thing Chris had expected her to say.

"Lizzie becomes really crabby when she's ill. Always did. Would always try to avoid her on the 8th of any month for my own personal safety."

"Right," He smiled slightly. "She wasn't that bad, really."

"Really?"

"Yeah."

"She'll let it out at some point. She's doing it for me. Putting on a brave face and a big smile. I suppose I'm doing the same. I guess that's the way these things work."

She smiled guiltily at him in the way that happens when two virtual strangers, people who have known each other for awhile but don't actually know each other, share information.

"I think that's why she didn't want to tell you. Didn't think she could keep on smiling and faking."

He nodded.

"Thanks for being here, Chris. I mean it. She needs you now."

He nodded again but thought to himself that he wasn't the man that she needed.

**Yeah I stole the yellow brick line from Scrubs. Opps! Oh well.**

**So prepare for a mammoth AN**

**Lizzie****—Yes, I know her reasoning is fairly shit. Obviously she should be telling Will what's going on but she is incredibly conflicted and believes that there is nothing that will help her. She's having to deal with that prospect of her life being cut off and wondering if she's achieved enough and how everyone will cope. **

**She's also fallen in love and I think that's scary enough for her. Especially as she hasn't told anyone. She doesn't want to worry him and in her mind this is the best way. **

**The cancer storyline****- I know it seems incredibly unrealistic but it has happened. I did some research before I wrote it and there was a news item about how a man with HIV had been given the wrong results and so had been going around infected for four months. **

**There was also an article about how a woman had been given a double mastectomy without even having any form of cancer and quite a few other similar cases. **

**There was also an episode of scrubs about it. **

**I know it's not all that plausible and probably wouldn't happen but it has happened before and this is ****fiction****. **

**Most of the fact about ALL are fairly accurate including the symptoms Lizzie has been showing in a few previous chapters. **

**ALL is fairly curable in children but does not have as successful a success rate in adults. Some of the medical info may be slightly off (just slightly) so that the story works. **

**Chris- ****Yes he is slightly annoying but mainly because he's not Darcy. And yes ultimately he should not have been the one to find out first. **

**But here's the thing. Lizzie when she first finds out in the hotel room is in too much shock to tell him and is being stupid now. Jane needs to help her sister and has no idea what to do and **_**doesn't know about Darcy**_**. That's why she goes to Chris. Because she's uncertain and looking for answer's and Chris is the first person that she can think of. Jane feels quite helpless. **

**I hope that's explained everything for you. If you have any questions about the NHS or anything I will try to help**

**I'm not saying that the NHS is a bad thing. It is a great system that doesn't always work and is slightly flawed but can be a wonderful thing. **

**I know this chapter was really angsty but it was the only way I could write it. **


	25. Admittance, Finally

Admittance, Finally

He had never been a huge fan of modern technology. Of course he understood the benefits and rather liked some of his fancy gadgets but other parts he felt intruded too much on a person's life.

No, William Darcy felt that many needs were over complicated. As a leading business and yeah being the basic guy he had to have the top quality items and so when the iphone had come out he had naturally brought himself one. It was better than a blackberry merely for the fact that it couldn't be hacked.

And what did he use it for? Phone calls mainly. He had once or twice texted and emailed people but he had certainly never used it for facebook or anything like that. It was a phone for godssake! Why would anyone need an 'app' for a spirit level'. If you were a builder surely you would have your own spirit level not a phone? Did the creator have some sort of levelling emergency and think that he knew exactly how to cure that- by program it into a phone?

Still, whatever issues he had with this small piece of twenty first century life he was exceptionally grateful when it rang.

It was a call that he never would have expected.

He hadn't looked at the caller ID which in retrospect was strange enough in itself but when he answered he was overjoyed.

The reason? The caller was none other than one Elizabeth Bennet.

The call was short but not without results. He wouldn't have let her get away that quickly if it hadn't been for those results.

She wanted to meet with him. At last the one and only Lizzie Bennet had got in contact with him and wanted to talk. He was so happy he didn't quite know what to do with himself.

******

"Gee I know Barry Manilow's fairly bad but he can't be that awful."

Lizzie sniffled and carefully dabbed her eyes so as not to remove all of her make-up. She had been trying damn hard to make sure that her eyes hadn't brimmed over during the song but it hadn't been a successful operation.

"And that's a Golden Oldie from the man himself- Can't smile without you- kick starting off our Barry Manilow week here on Radio 2." The radio host's chirpy bright voice was an unnatural contrast breaking out across the stiff quietness of the hospital ward.

The older woman pulled a box of tissues that was lying on a window sill. "Why don't you tell me all about it? I'm Jillian but everyone calls me Snowy."

"Snowy?" That was certainly a strange nickname.

"I worked within girl guiding for years."

"Oooh Snowyy owl," Lizzie said, now more knowledgeable and able to look at the woman differently. She had seen her around the ward, always smiling and chipper dressed with brightly coloured scarves and a cheerful smile on her wide brightly coloured lips. She wasn't sure if she worked there, she wasn't in a uniform but she was always around. This was the first time they had spoken.

"That's me. I never really was a Jillian anyway. Much too stuffy."

She certainly didn't look like a Jillian. What with her nose piercing, second earring done, along with the large wooden earring she was wearing and many other bits and pieces of exotic jewellery, Jillian was not the name for her.

"So what have you done? Or haven't done?"

Lizzie didn't say anything.

"Ohhh," Jillian or Snowy continued. "You haven't told someone who needs to know about your diagnosis."

Lizzie looked up at her in surprise.

"You wouldn't believe the number of times it's happened. Mummy tells kids that she's just not feeling well when in fact it's far more serious. I've seen it all. Lovers don't mention that they have even some curable diseases such as Chlamydia or gonorrhoea but instead that they are practising some weird religious practice that means they can't have sex."

Lizzie still didn't say anything.

"Let me guess, your one of those strong, independent types who doesn't want anyone to see their weak side. Your parents treated you as an adult, you looked after a sibling, something happened that made you enter the adult world a little early."

Lizzie stared at her; this certainly seemed a relatively accurate description of her. She had always been a smart, confident girl but Jane's illness and the bone marrow transplant amongst other things had made her mature quickly. Nothing incredibly sinister had happened to her but she had always been slightly more mature than the rest of her friends and she had been the one to look out for Jane, not the other way around as might have been expected.

She guessed getting her novel had been incredibly lucky but it had also meant meetings with publishers and editors whilst other people her age had been nursing hangovers.

"You don't have to tell me what's wrong with you." The elder woman gently probed. "You can tell me to fuck off right now, if you like. I won't mind."

Lizzie wasn't sure what to do. She didn't feel like talking, yet part of her also wanted to and was wallowing really the best option? But then wasn't wallowing and being a little bit self indulgent, fun?

Fortunately Snowy or Jill was rather good at reading people and decided to stay where she was instead of 'fucking off'.

"You were diagnosed officially, what, two days ago?"

"Yes. Cancer. Leukaemia."

There was a slight pause. "I'm sorry."

Lizzie didn't make some quip despite the fact that she was tempted to but instead asked, "How did you know that it was two days ago?"

"I've been around patients both terminal and otherwise for a long time. You learn to read the signs." She waited a moment to see if the younger girl would flee and then asked, "So what's your name?"

"Lizzie. Well, Elizabeth Bennet."

"Uhhuh. So who do you most not want to be here, right now?"

"Jane." Her response was instantaneous. There had been no need to question what exactly she had meant.

"Jane?"

"My sister. The blonde woman who was here earlier."

Jillian who generally shortened her name to Jill knew it was best to say nothing and just let her continue.

"She's just being so wonderful and sweet and amazing and I'm not really sure what to do with that."

Lizzie began to explain the situation, about her childhood and the diagnoses.

Jill was not saying anything; it would be easier to see where Lizzie led herself.

"It was easier back then."

"Easier?"

"Yeah. I mean not because I was seven but even when we were all worried about Jane a few years ago." Lizzie stopped. "I can't tell you this."

Jill didn't push her but didn't say that she could stop if she wanted. She just sat back and let her go wherever she wanted.

"It was easier when I thought Jane was dying," these words were very difficult for Lizzie to get out and she paused before each one forming them carefully in her mouth. "I shouldn't tell you this. I sound like some unbelievably horrible person."

"No you don't." Jill wanted her to continue, she knew that Lizzie needed to get this out.

"There was a time, a few years ago, when we became worried and she had to have some more extensive testing. I knew what to do then, what was needed. I brought her books and food, was there to comfort her. Knew how to grieve."

"And you can't do that now? No, I suppose not."

"No. Having Jane around just makes me feel even worse. She's just trying so hard to keep this smile on her face and there's nothing I can do for her. "

"Can I say something?"

"Sure, go ahead."

"You're lying."

Lizzie frowned at her.

"Oh I'm sure you're not lying completely. And I understand absolutely about that but you need to tell the person you haven't told."

"The person, I haven't told?" The pretence that she didn't understand what Jill was going on about was not successful.

"Yes." She looked at her for a moment and then looked away, trying to give Lizzie a moment where she could look away. "So is it you're boyfriend? Is it a he?"

Lizzie sighed, she had to tell someone and this person seemed as good as any. It wasn't a conversation she was going to have with Jane or anyone in her family really, Chris hadn't understood and there wasn't anyone she wanted to talk to it about. It was easier to unburden herself on a stranger, a person who had no memories of her than to talk to someone who thought they knew all about her.

"Here," she got out a packet of photographs and began to flick through them. "Him. And he's not my boyfriend, or at least we haven't actually spoken about this. He's just…just… Will." She handed the photo over.

Jill studied it for a moment.

"Honey, from the way this boy's looking at you, I would say he wants to be more than just your boyfriend." Jill laughed.

Even Lizzie, who like the majority of people, did not like having her photo taken had to admit that it was a very nice photo of the two of them. Several of the photos in this selection were very good.

Her Aunt or possibly her Uncle had taken the picture at the ball when the two of them were dancing. Lizzie had been completely unaware that anyone was taking her photo. She suspected that it was her uncle as he was better at photography than her Aunt, and he had caught the light shining on them, blurring the background slightly to make the pair stand out.

The other photo she liked was one of Will on his own staring off into the distance, smiling slightly, taken during one of their walks of the Pemberley grounds.

He was smiling that same smile as he walked into the café where she had asked him to meet her. That was what made it all the worse for her. It was such a young smile, hopeful and happy, almost as though the wearer had looked into the future and saw that there were no problems there. If that was the case then this wearer was seriously misguided.

"Will." She greeted him with the merest flicker of the corners of her mouth.

It was Lizzie Bennet as he had never seen her. It was Lizzie Bennet trying too hard. She was wearing much brighter colours than he was used too, had a scarf tied in her hair and was wearing lots of make-up and jewellery. She looked good but all that stuff wasn't necessary for her to wear.

Jill had given Lizzie a quick make over before she went. It was strange but she felt so much more confident, made up with brighter colours, more of an individual, more herself.

"I have to tell you something," she seemed nervous to him, far more nervous than needed and he sensed that this wasn't going to the jokey, casual meeting he had hoped for but far more serious.

"Ok." He wanted to joke, make light of the situation by saying something like "your married" or "your dying" but just as the words were forming on his mouth he was suddenly aware that it could be something like that.

"I have cancer. I found out that morning back at the hotel and then they've spent all this time making sure, running tests."

"Oh." There didn't seem to be anything that he could say except, "What type?"

"Leukaemia. It runs in the family. Jane had it as a child."

It was as though they were actors reading off a script, no emotions involved.

'Damn', thought Will mentally. It wasn't the type that the drug his company was developing would combat. A part of him really wanted to be there for her, prove that he could be her knight in shining armour.

"It has a cure, though, doesn't it? I mean you will be ok, won't you? You're going to be fine?" It wasn't as though he was asking but telling.

Lizzie knew what he was doing all too well, she had seen many people do this before. They didn't believe that anything was wrong, at least not anything serious. The brain shuts down for protection. She might as well have told him she had flu. She herself had done it when the diagnosis was given.

"It's not like that Will, they don't think chemo will work. It's pretty serious. The prognosis doesn't look great."

"N, n not great?"

"No. They don't think I have all that long."

"Before they start considering other options?" Will was confused.

"No. To live,"

She reached across to him and held his hand tracing her finger along his knuckles, rubbing slowly.

"But, but… wait… how?"

"I know."

Will couldn't comprehend it. Literally couldn't comprehend that. She seemed so sure it would happen. Besides, who spends a summer with a person, madly in love, then disappears after floods of tears only to reappear a week later saying they had cancer? It just didn't happen.

Lizzie began to explain the disease but they were just words, empty words that she was using to fill up the overwhelming silence.

She was using gently, soft words, speaking in a way a nursery teacher would to her charge when Will looked up properly for the first time and said

"Lizzie, can you j-j-just be quiet, for a moment, please?"

She had to smile, slightly, it was quite funny. Anyone else would have told her to just shut up, that this was all too much information to take in. But not Will, no he had to be polite even within this.

"Lizzie are you ok? I mean obviously you're not ok but are you ok?"

He was trying to refer to how she was dealing with her prognoses.

"I'm fine," she put her other hand on top of his. "I'm with you."

It was incredibly cheesy, yes and she wasn't one of those girls who believed that the moment she saw the love of her life everything would be magically fixed but she just felt calmer when he was around. Something more perhaps. Like, because of the fact that the two of them were together it couldn't be all that bad. There was a scientific explanation she knew, pheromones and estrogens levels and all sorts of thing that she hadn't understood in biology lessons that could explain it but the romantic part of her just felt soothed.

This moment didn't last when she realised that she always had something else to tell him.

"I have something else to say."

Will swallowed, unsure. If cancer had been her first admission, then what could this be?

"Go on," his voice was husky.

"Uh," she took her hands off his and picked up a napkin shredding with her hands.

"I've uh I um. I've known about this for awhile. I, I needed time to tell you."

"That's fine. Everyone needs time to adjust." The words were an automatic response that didn't require any thought. He certainly knew that he needed time; his mind was boggling, right now.

"But I didn't tell you." That was the thing she had been dreading telling him the most.

"Lizzie, I understand," he reached forward to take her hand again.

She pulled away, "I told _Chris _before you."

That hurt, but, really, what did it matter?

"He had to find out sometime. Besides, save the best until last." He smiled.

Lizzie swore that there was no way to understand men. Women may be very complicated but there was no way that they could compare to men.

She hadn't said anything in awhile, as she thought over the situation so Will asked, "Which hospital are you at?"

"See you don't even know that! I haven't told you anything about this. It's so incredibly stupid." She was almost yelling.

Will didn't think there was anything that he could say that was right.

"See, there's nothing that you can say. It's so completely ridiculous."

"There's nothing to say, it is what it is."

"You should be angry at me!" She was almost angry at the fact that he didn't appear to be angry.

"Well I'm not."

It was strange, he wasn't angry at her. Yes, he should have been angry. He should have felt that definitely, betrayed perhaps. Maybe even feel jealous and hostile towards Chris who seemed to be the first non family member who had found out.

"You should be."

"Fine. I'll yell at you and then storm out just to make you feel better. Ok? No, I'm not going to do that."

"Fine." This wasn't the reaction she had expected.

He sat down and looked at her. She averted her gaze. He looked around the room and saw that those on the tables nearest them were staring unashamedly.

"We should go," he still hated people looking at him and part of him wanted to protect Lizzie from their wide eye stares.

"I have another appointment soon." The hospital had recommended that she have a talk with some sort of grief councillor.

"Oh, ok then I'll walk with you." He was determined to be cheerful and positive despite the fact that it was the last thing that he wanted to do.

"You don't have to. Don't you have work?"

She was pushing him away. He knew that. He wasn't completely sure why, but maybe she knew best.

Part of him wanted to be pushed away and run, keep on running so far that he didn't have to deal with any of this but he knew that was the coward in him speaking. He suspected that it was the coward in her speaking and he wasn't going to let it happen.

"I'd still like to walk back with you."

Lizzie was about to respond once again that it wasn't necessary when she was saved by the bell quite literally. Will's phone chirped.

"Do you need to answer that?"

He would have loved to have said no, he didn't but he couldn't.

"It's fine, I wouldn't have been able to give you any time anyway. I've got a lot of things on today." Lizzie genuinely was busy having this appointment and then a meeting with her editor as well as all her friends and family visiting the hospital to see if they were matches to her bone marrow but even as she spoke the words she knew they sounded like a bad excuse.

She needed Will, she knew that, but just couldn't seem to tell him.

They parted company both wanting to say more to the other person but not sure exactly what or how it would be received.

*****

Lizzie was thinking of this as she sat on the bed in the new room that she had just been moved into, waiting for her family to arrive.

What could she have done to make it all better? Why on earth couldn't she be completely honest with him? Why wasn't she emotionally mature enough to deal with this situation sensibly?

Most importantly why had she waited all this time to tell him?

Will watched through the small glass window at her sitting so small and pale on the bed. It looked as though she'd had more tests judging by the plaster on her arm.

He barged into the room, carrier bags flying as he pushed his way through the narrow door. She stared up at him in astonishment.

"No, don't speak. You don't get to speak right now."

He pulled out a pair of handcuffs, superglue and a chain and gave them to her. Just as she looked as though she were about to speak, he rushed in, "These are to prove that I'm not going anyway. You're stuck with me. I'm chained to you."

She turned the chain over in her hand, not really sure what was going on, wondering if he, the great Will Darcy had used a sentence that sappy.

He then began to pull out a series of coloured bears- a set, which he arranged along the table next to her.

"These," he held up the orange coloured one from the rainbow series, "are for when you need to throw something at someone. I will be your chosen target practice and they seem relatively soft, no hard noses or glass eyes."

"Will," Lizzie began but once again he put a hand up to stop her.

"This," he pulled out a long blonde wig and then another bag which he tipped the content over her bed to cover the duvet with various different make-up objects, a pair of female razors, tweezers, deodorant and various other item, "This is for when you need a best friend and Jane isn't around."

He began to put the wig on and Lizzie snorted.

"My new name will be Wilhelmina. Personally I've always preferred blondes," His voice began pompous and snobby, "Gentlemen do, you know."

"Can I throw one of these bears at you now?" She laughed for the first time that week.

"No. And you can't talk either. This is for a sponsored charity run," he held up two paper number plates, the type that could be tacked onto a t-shirt which had a message to say who you were running for and underneath he had written in big, fat felt tip the words 'my girlfriend.'

"It's 5k. Am I prepared? Who knows? Who cares?"

"Oh and there's this." He reached into his pocket and handed her a slip of paper.

"This is a receipt." She was doubtful.

"Yes, this is a receipt for a certain photograph to be blown up to fit frame that I have chosen. I think it will look nice on that wall there. And then maybe when you're done with this whole cancer thing we can put in your apartment, or mine, or even ours. I need to update Pemberley's gallery anyway.

She stared at him amazement, tears forming in her eyes. "What photograph?"

"The one of the two of us that your Aunt sent me."

"My Aunt…," Lizzie was a little dazed.

"Yep. I got back to my office and there a copy was. Apparently she didn't know my address so tracked down my office. She mentioned something about making sure she knew where I lived in London otherwise how was she going to get in contact with her niece."

Lizzie starred, unable to believe her Aunt had written that.

"Personally I think it's an excellent idea but we'll have to see." He smiled at her and she grinned in response.

"This," he waved a hand to the mass of stuff lying on the bed, "is to prove to you that I'm not going anywhere, ok? I'm in this for the long run. I'm going to be here for you. Ok. I'll be there every stage. Holding back your hair when you need to throw up, shaving my own when you go through chemo, buying ginger biscuits or marijuana if you really want. And I'm going to be the first person there at the end when you're done with all this, holding the champagne and party poppers."

If Lizzie'd had any doubts as to whether or not she loved Fitzwilliam Darcy, they were gone now. Tears still pricking her eyes, she could think of no response but to pull him closer to her and kiss him.

"I'm sorry, I'm so sorry. I'm sorry that I didn't tell you, I'm sorry that I told Chris first. It's just that you're so important t me and I know that doesn't make sense but that's the way it seemed." She was growing increasingly emotional.

"It's ok," he tried to comfort her.

"It's not and I'm sorry for that. But I do need you, I really do and I'm so amazed that you're here."

"I told you I'm not going anywhere."

"I know. I believe you."

They looked at each other for a moment not really needing words and then Lizzie said, "Please don't shave your hair."

"Darcy?" Neither of them had realised that Jane had walked through the door with Lizzie's parents beside her.

"Darcy? Why, I do believe that name connects to a boy. But what would a _boy _be doing in my daughter's room?" Robert Bennet turned to his wife in mock horror and amusement.

Just by looking at the pair, Will could tell which sister took after which parent. Robert Bennet already seemed to be making bad jokes, like Lizzie, avoiding the issue. Whereas Tilly Bennet looked pale, her hair hanging drably off her non made up face, much like her elder daughter, worried.

"Dad!" Lizzie smiled slightly but also with an irritated eye roll.

Jane was still staring in amazement at Will, really unsure why he was there.

"Oh, gosh I'm sorry, are you a girl? I really didn't mean to offend." Robert Bennet stuck his hand out.

Will chuckled and shook his hand.

"Dad, Mum this is uh Will, um Will."

"Will Darcy, Lizzie's boyfriend." He supplied when Lizzie struggled to get the words out. He was glad for once to say it without having to ask permission from her, to say it without thinking.

"Her boyfriend?" This question was asked by Robert but both Tilly and Jane turned to Lizzie, eyes wide.

"Yes, my boyfriend," Lizzie smiled widely.

******

They were officially together, a couple, which was what Will had wanted all along but it couldn't have come at a worse time.

Everyone had been tested, himself her whole family, Chris and Charlie had come along and a few friends and it would be a day or so until the results were in.

The family were all gathered around Lizzie and they were smiling and telling jokes, she sitting right in the centre, surrounded by them. She seemed happy but Will knew that it wouldn't last, couldn't last and that was what made the scene so heartbreaking.

Will looked to his left and right at Chris and Charlie and deciding that they didn't really fit in decided to go for a drink.

By the time they reached the bar it seemed as though melancholy had well and truly set in.

"So."

"So."

"So."

Chris joined Charlie and Will at the bar and sat down.

It was almost like they were in some bad t.v drama Will mused. The three of them at a bar in a noisy, jolly pub, no one speaking as they sat miserably, hunched over their drinks.

"You're back with Jane, officially?" Chris asked his brother.

"Yes," there was the soft flicker of a smile on Charlie's face until he looked across at Will and then stopped.

"That's great." Chris hadn't caught this look between Will and Charlie but realised he had spoken too quickly. They both glanced guiltily at each other and then turned to him, slumped over.

He looked up. "It is Charlie. I'm really happy for you." The words were a bit choked out but heartfelt. There was another telling look and a nod of appreciation.

He was happy for him. It was a shit situation but everyone deserved love. Especially Charlie. He wanted him to be happy.

He wanted Jane to be happy, too. And if Charlie made her happy then that was good. Generally he wanted the whole world to be happy, On some abstract, distant general thought of life, that was what he wanted.

It wasn't the same feeling he'd had a mere two weeks ago when he was spending all his time with Lizzie, so blissfully happy that he wanted the rest of the world to know this amazing feeling but instead now the feeling was different.

Different because he knew what it was like to feel miserable and hate things and the way that life was going and he also knew that if at all possible he wanted other people not to feel like that.

The next morning he was thinking similar thoughts as he walked down the hospital corridor with a selection of dvds for Lizzie to watch. He had wanted something funny so had chosen Monty Python but had no idea if she liked it and so had wisely picked out a few Nora Ephron films.

He was passing the café on the third floor, wondering if Jane was here and whether Charlie was with her when he saw her sitting by the window drinking tea. But the man sitting with her wasn't Charlie.

**First can I say massive apologies for not getting this chapter out sooner, my laptop did something funky (again ********) and I lost stuff and it's still not completely working so I'm writing in drabs.**

**A new term started, new pressures and I'm sorry. **** I got into a really writing funk which I couldn't get out of. This chapter may be changed. **

**Hopefully some of Lizzie's behaviour has been explained and you like her slightly more. Just a quick thing, she is twenty three and whilst having an 'old soul' (thank you very much to the reviewer who wrote that) she's not always going to have it together.**

**The next chapte****r may also be awhile, I'm sorry, I'm just so busy. **

**Please Review and let me know you're still reading.**


	26. And the results are in

**I love you all so much for reading and reviewing**

Darcy paused for a moment and watched Jane and the man carefully. She was laughing and touching the man's arm in an overly friendly manner.

He could have been anyone but Darcy was suddenly struck by the thought that it had been quite a while- over half a year- since Jane had dated Charlie and it was more than plausible that she had met someone else.

What if it wasn't someone she was dating? It could easily be a friend of the family, here to support Lizzie and Jane.

The question was, should he mention the man to Charlie?

Oh, well he had better not think about it, just get back to Lizzie with the films. But as he was walking down the corridor it was still bothering him and he turned back to the café. They were still sitting incredibly close but he supposed he shouldn't dwell on it unless there was any more information. His time spent with Lizzie had taught him not to always act on first impressions.

He knocked on the door to Lizzie's door.

"Hey," She ambled off the bed and over to him, and kissed him on the cheek. "I'm getting quite used to doing nothing, its fun. On the minus side I now have to wait which I'm not so good at."

"I brought films, which should help. Have you heard anything from Dr Mathews yet?"

"No. It's still very early."

"No news is good news, right? I brought films to watch whilst we wait. When Harry met Sally, Sleepless in Seattle or You've got mail? I have a few others, some Monty Python, Audrey Hepburn, whatever you fancy."

"How about this?" She pulled a box from the side and waved it at him.

"Citizen Kane? Really?"

"I've not seen it all, we should, supposedly it's a classic."

"Sure, why not? So have you seen some of it?"

"Yeah about half, I always meant to watch the other half but never got around to it. Now I have time."

"Right," He slid it out of the box and into the dvd player on the television that had been hired out. He went to sit down next to the bed in the chair but she slid over in the bed and made room for him.

The film started up the loud music announcing twentieth century fox.

"Do you remember when you were a teenager and would go and see a film and not actually see a film?" She smiled suggestively.

"Is that what's going to happen now?" He murmured and began to kiss her neck but she put her hand in front of his face, pushing him away

"No Will. Seriously," she laughed as he tried again, "anyone could walk in right now."

That was a slightly sobering thought especially as he considered the thought that Jane's new boyfriend could walk in on them. If he was her boyfriend. Which there was no definite proof that he was, it was just suspicious circumstances.

They started to watch the film.

"So, is this Jane's film?"

"No," she was paying attention to the film and not him.

"You said you'd seen some of this before?"

She turned to him. She then turned back and paused the video.

"Subtle, Darcy very subtle." She sounded almost impressed.

"What?"

"You want to find out who I saw this film with and why I didn't watch the end, based on my comment earlier."

"No, I wasn't." He hadn't been, he had wanted to know about the man.

"You so were! You needn't worry. I saw it with a relation."

"Oh."

They resumed play. Will leaned across and picked the box up, looking at it, turning it over, when a card slipped out.

_Jack_

_Don't sulk. _

_You joining the family was the best thing that ever happened._

_Love, _

_Always _

_Lizzie _

_(and sometimes because it seems you need reminding)_

_Your Sister_

He took the remote from beside her hand and paused.

"Lizzie?"

He held the note up for her to see. She took it from him and read it.

"You gave this film to your brother?" He had no idea that she had even had a brother.

"Yes, he was always a big film fan. Introduced me to my love of them. I bought this for him when his video copy broke."

"Oh." He was racking his brain for any previous mentions of her brother. There weren't any he could think of. Something must have happened otherwise surely there would be more frequent mentions.

He was about to ask, in a tender and sensitive manner what had happened to him when there was a knock on the door. There were voices outside the door.

"Oh sod that, we don't need to knock." A man's voice spoke.

The door was pushed open. Lizzie suddenly let out a shriek as she saw who was standing there.

A man was standing there, tall and imposing, good looking with deep dark eyes and a broad smile. He looked rather like a young Taye Diggs.

"Jack! Oh my god! What are you doing here?" She scrambled off the bed ready to hug him.

"I couldn't not be here for my Little Lizzie, could I?"

Will jumped up and stared at the man that, by some amazing coincidence, they had just been talking about as he walked in the room. It was the same man that had been sitting in the cafeteria with Jane.

She had pulled him in for an incredibly long hug and then leaned back to look at him.

"How have you been? You look great."

"Yeah, I've been good. And you?" He watched her carefully and barely allowed her to answer before he said, "I think I'd rather you lie."

"Well I've been great, no lying required." She smiled at him. "I want to introduce to William Darcy, Will this is my brother Jack Robinson."

Will said nothing and shook the man's hand. It wasn't as though he could ask about the man's parentage but given the colour of his skin, he couldn't help but question it.

"Where have you been? You haven't emailed in awhile. You were in Texas, weren't you?" Lizzie was very happy to see her brother.

"No, no Texas was awhile ago. I've been in Washington for the last few weeks."

"Oh."

"Yeah, I'm sure we'll have lots of time to catch up but I need to go and get tested now." He smiled at her.

"Lots of time? Are you here for long?" Lizzie was incredibly excited.

"Of course, for however long you need me. I just had a rather long flight though and need to shower."

"Yeah, ok. You know you should stay with me."

"I'm gonna get a hotel tomorrow but I'm staying at Jane's tonight. Maybe if she drives me totally crazy I'll sneak into yours."

"Ok." She nodded. "I still can't believe you're here." She smiled again.

"Well I'm not going anywhere just as long as you're not going anywhere."

There was another hug and a last look at each other before he left. William felt very much as though he had intruded on an important family moment. The door was shut behind him and he turned back to Lizzie.

"So."

"That's my brother."

"Your brother." Will nodded along, keeping it vague, not wanting to bring up his actual thoughts.

"Yes, yes I know what you're thinking. He's actually my adoptive brother."

"Oh." Things made more sense, "I didn't know your parents had adopted."

"Well no they didn't. Simon Robinson, Jack's dad used to work with my dad and they became close friends. They lived near us. My parents became Jack's godparents. When I was about eight, it was pretty soon after the whole Jane, cancer incident, Simon and Victoria were in a car accident and Jack came to live with us."

"Oh."

"Yeah, it was an important year for him, school wise and he didn't have any family near, a lot of them didn't live in England so he came to stay with us."

"Oh, right."

"Yeah, I mean technically he's not my brother but we always called him that."

"That must have been strange for you."

"God it was shit. He was horrible and moody, hated being with us but was really great with Jane and me. Never used to mind us following around. Soon as he was eighteen he moved out. Now he just sort of drifts from country to country."

"Jack sort of just turns up," she continued. "Never know when or why. It's just the way he is. I don't really talk about him."

"Must have been strange to have a sibling like that, never really there."

"It was. But, then he never saw himself as part of the family, which was always a problem. But when he turned up, it was more exciting than anything else."

"And now he's here."

"He's here. I can't believe he came."

"He cares about you, obviously. We all do."

******

Time was crawling past, at such a slow rate that Lizzie wanted to check whether the clock, her watch and Will's watch were actually working.

"Argg!"

Will had just put down x-e-n-o in front of Lizzie's word phobia right on the triple word score. He jumped back in surprise at her reaction.

"Sorry I'm just shit at this whole waiting game."

"I know," he himself wasn't that good at it and desperately wanted to know the results but only if they were the right results. "Why don't we play something else?"

There were a pile of board games lying on the floor and they had chosen scrabble but it had been a slow, torturous game with no words opening up the board, neither participant caring much. The film had been abandoned minutes after Jane and Jack had left when Lizzie had complained of being bored and had started tying knots in her hair.

She shrugged her shoulders.

"Monopoly?"

"Doesn't work with two people."

"Rummikub."

"No thanks."

Will wasn't sure what to suggest.

"Boggle?"

Lizzie looked at the hopeful look on his face as he tried to keep her entertained and nodded in agreement, "But only if I get to shake the letters."

They carried on with a little more effort when there was a knock at the door. They both looked up immediately ready to see a doctor with results even though it was still a little early. Instead it was Lizzie's parents.

"Hey Kiddo."

"Dad."

"Ready for a nice fancy meal? We're thinking somewhere like Mamon's but we could go anywhere you fancy."

"Yeah ok, I was getting hungry." She turned to Will who was watching the interaction carefully.

He was very aware of the constriction that Mr Bennet's face went through, especially when Mrs Bennet said,

"Oh Will you're welcome to come along, too."

He couldn't read Lizzie expression well but out of respect for her parents he replied that he couldn't make it. It wasn't the truth but he was aware that her parents would want to spend time with Lizzie, alone. It was what he wanted as well but he knew he had to share her.

"I'm just getting ready. I'll meet you in a minute. Is Jane coming?"

"Yes, and then we were thinking of going over to Andrea's and James' hotel for some coffee and drinks."

"Oh but I need to be here for the results." Lizzie was so sick of waiting but she couldn't just leave.

"Dr Mathews is going to ring as soon as they're back from the lab, he promised me." Tilly was desperate to get her daughter to relax.

"Ok. Let me just get ready. I'll meet you by the car."

"It's fine, we'll wait for you." Robert Bennet offered but his wife gave him a look and he stopped.

"We should go down and check the best route." She nudged him slightly and they left.

Lizzie smiled and turned to Will, "You could have come as well, you know."

"No, you should have time with your family."

"Yeah, I guess. I really want to spend time with you, really I do but I also need to spend time with them."

"That's fine and perfectly natural."

"You know what you should do?"

"Walk around the hospital counting ceiling tiles?"

"No. Work."

"Work's not important right now."

"You haven't been in awhile. Not properly."

"I've been taking care of things. Don't you want me here?"

"Of course I do, you know I do but I don't want you to get into any trouble." Lizzie knew how important his job was and didn't want to be the cause of his abandonment.

"Elizabeth, I'm not going to get into any trouble, I run the company."

"Exactly, you have a really important job and you have to do it. The new drug is going to need processing, you'll have to be there." She gave him a stern look. "I'm going to be out all day and I'll ring as soon as you get the results but you have to promise me to get some work done."

"You promise you'll ring, straight away, no matter what."

"I'll be dialling the phone whilst hanging up with Doctor Mathews."

"Fine, fine, I'll go to work to sort out some sort of long term cover for me and then I'll be back."

"Why do you need someone to cover you?"

"Because it's the best possible solution, I can't be in two places and I need to be here so I ought to make sure it's someone I trust whose running things. I can't leave it all to Richard."

"Why do you _need _to be here? I don't need you here," her voice quavered slightly.

"Lizzie…."

"Look I don't want you to spend all your time here or with me, re-arranging your life for something which ultimately might not end well."

"Don't talk like that Lizzie, anyway it was high time that my life was rearranged."

"Will."

"Elizabeth. Your parents will be waiting."

"Just try and retain some sense of normality."

He gave her a look and was very careful not to promise her anything.

She checked her hair, pulled on a jacket and left.

Will sighed. He didn't want to go back to normality. Normality had become horrible for him. He wanted to spend every minute with her. He didn't want to spend his days looking at spread sheets and pie charts. If there were numbers that he was going to be looking at he wanted them to be white cell counts and success rates, not the number of sick days people on the fourth floor were taking.

He gathered up his jacket and saw that Lizzie had left her bag. It had not been long after she had left, he might still be able to meet her and so he hurried out.

He took the stairs instead of the lift, knowing that it would probably be quicker and was walking through the reception when he bumped into Tilly Bennet.

"Oh, hi Will. Lizzie left her bag in her room, I was just coming to," he held it up, "Oh I see you have it."

"Yeah I saw and thought she might need it."

"Thank you. That's really nice of you to bring it down."

"It was no problem."

"I also wanted to thank you for everything your doing for Lizzie."

Will wasn't sure what she meant and his face showed it.

"She wouldn't be doing half as well as she would be if you weren't around. You're helping her fight this and we're really grateful. Robert might not seem it, he doesn't like any boy near his girls but Andrea reckons you're a nice guy and Lizzie obviously thinks so..." She spoke quickly all the while looking at him with soft, maternal eyes.

He wasn't sure what to stay that and she laughed, "I've scared you a little, haven't I? Anyway must go."

*******

"Well hello, look who we have here."

"Richard, what are you doing here? You're supposed to be in New York." Will was stunned to see his cousin in the lobby of his work building.

"Oh, I'm supposed to be in New York, am I? At least one of us knows where he is supposed to be. Where exactly have you been?"

"That's a question that I'd like the answer to." Henry Fitzwilliam rounded the corner.

"Uncle."

"You haven't been in work, haven't even rung in sick, and haven't answered any phone calls or emails. Your apartment looks as though as you haven't even been there. What exactly has been going on?" Henry Fitzwilliam had been growing exceedingly irritated by his nephew's attitude each day he had not shown up for work.

"Nothing."

"William. This is _the _most important time for our company and you cannot flake on us now. You weren't there this summer and I understand that you've worked hard for this company but enough is enough!"

"Uncle Henry."

"Look, your going to go up to your office, sort through your emails and then we're all going to have a meeting and discuss some issues." He turned and left.

"Ha! Darcy got told." Richard was far too gleeful in Will's opinion but then he really didn't want to be there.

"Excuse me Richard, I have work to do." He walked past his cousin.

"Oh I see that stick is back in your arse again. Did Lizzie dump you?"

"Richard I have work to do. I suggest you do the same. And no, Elizabeth has not dumped me."

Will walked into the lift and pressed the close door button before Richard had a chance to join him. He leaned against the handrail and sighed.

The lift doors pinged open indicating that the lift doors were about to open and so he stood up and straightened his tie and suit.

"William, darling," His Aunt Celia smiled and stepped into the lift.

"Auntie," he smiled at her, "I didn't know you were in the city."

"Yes, yes, I came up with your Uncle to sort out your mess," she tried to look stern but then smiled at looked at him more closely. "My, my no wonder you look so tired. All those days you called off sick, I wonder what exactly you can be doing," her voice was thick with suggestion, "… oh wait."

She turned to the panel by the door and hit the emergency stop button.

"Auntie! What are you doing?"

"Oh, don't worry, sweety," he grimaced slightly at this, "I spoke with Timmy and the boys downstairs, they know this is going to happen."

This didn't reassure him much.

"Don't worry, you always did worry too much, you get that from your mother, Henry is much the same. Anyway, what was I saying? Yes, you do look tired and we both know why. But the question is why would you be spending your days and nights at her place? Surely yours is bigger?"

"Hers?"

"Lizzie? The charming young girl we met at the ball. Please tell me it is her, William? You wouldn't be such a cad to be with someone else. It was so obvious she was in love with you."

"What? No it's not been like that." He couldn't believe they were having this conversation and that everyone believed he had not been turning up to work just because he was in a new relationship.

"In my opinion there are only two reasons that a man dumps all his personal responsibilities. I'm not just talking work, I spoke to your sister, young man and I know you haven't spoken to her. The two reasons are either love or personal tragedy. And if it's neither and you've become the sort of man who just doesn't care about work then you are officially off my Christmas card list."

He sighed.

"Look I get that you're in love. I was there once, that whole giddy feeling that you have when you want to spend all your time with one person, but you have not spent all this time on this company just to flake at the most important time. I get that she's important to you but you need to retain some sort of balance."

"It's not like that."

She gave him a look but decided to hear him out.

"Will. What do you mean?"

He slumped further down the wall, "Lizzie has cancer."

"Oh."

*****

"So this …. Will boy, you haven't mentioned him before."

"No Dad."

"And how long have you been dating him?"

"Not long," Lizzie was tired of the grilling and just wanted to eat.

"Yes but how come your sister didn't know anything about it?" Lizzie turned to her sister with an accusatory look in her eyes.

"She's ashamed of us," Jack laughed. Robert did not look pleased.

"Why don't you let it drop, Robert, and we can all enjoy our nice meal?" Tilly asked, pointedly.

"I'm just saying we officially met this Charlie fellow and Chris, so why haven't we officially met Will?

"We haven't been dating long, he's shy."

"Well it would be nice to meet him properly, we should all go out to dinner together." Robert Bennet might not have been so anxious to meet this man, properly had his wife not said the night before,

"_Isn't it strange that both are girls are falling in love at the same time, and with such nice young men."_

Robert Bennet had never seen his daughters in love. Oh sure, there had been boyfriends but it had never been that serious. They had talked with excitement about them and cried frantically when the relationship had ended but the signs hadn't been there. Jane was now the same age as Tilly was when they had married, he was in fact the same age as Charles Bingley when he'd married her.

It never occurred to him that he would lose his daughters this soon. From the first moment he had held them he had know that one day they would fall in love and get married.

Looking around the table as Lizzie quizzed her sister and her mother about the evening with Charlie he realised it would be far better to lose his daughter to a husband than to cancer.

The question was; why did he have to lose his daughter at all?

And what if he lost her to both?

******

His Aunt was staring at him in shock.

"But, when, why how? What type?"

"Leukaemia. And no the prognoses is not good."

"Sweetie," Celia came towards him but he stepped further into the corner.

His phone rang. He jumped for it immediately.

"Lizzie, did Dr Mathews ring, are the results in? What are they? Good or bad?" What are the options- have they got a match."

"No Will the results aren't in. I just wanted to talk to you. I'm sorry I shouldn't have rung."

"No, no, of course you should have rung, I'm glad to here from you." Will was very happy that she had just rung and turned away from his Aunt, "But aren't you at lunch?"

"Yeah about that," she began to talk very quickly. "My parents want to meet you. Well actually my Dad really wants to meet you and so I was wondering if we should have dinner all of us together."

"I'd love to. Look don't make any arrangements, I'll sort it all. When were you thinking?"

"Tuesday maybe?"

"Sounds great."

"We'll have to make it before Friday so that we can go up and see Giana in school."

"We- go see Giana?" He couldn't believe that Lizzie had suggested that.

"Yeah, she deserves to know, besides isn't she moving into a new college and a new resident hall? A girl can always shop for new furniture."

Lizzie was nervous, twisting at her hair but knew that her friend deserved to know.

"Are you sure? I mean that sounds great but is that what you want to spend your time doing?"

"Absolutely. That is if we survive the meal with the parentals. Ok, I have to go now, I've spent a really long time in the bathroom."

"Ok, I'll call later. Love you."

"You too."

He hung up and turned back to his Aunt.

"You're not going to that meeting."

"What? No, it wasn't about that. I can make the meeting."

"No you can't it's pointless."

"I still have to work."

"Yes, but not at actual work, at being there for Lizzie."

"Uncle Henry?"

"I'll take care of your Uncle, just leave it up to me; I have my ways. In the meantime you are going to fix this."

"Fix this?"

"We have all sorts of drugs in the pipeline. There must be something that you can do. You're a Darcy for god sake."

"Sorry?"

"You could always fix things, even as a child and there must be a way around this. People do survive this and Lizzie Bennet is going to be one of them." She pressed another button and the lift began to move.

********

Reality television has come into it's own in the twenty first century. Making celebrities out of 'ordinary' people. You can probably think of hundreds of different shows, Big Brother, The X Factor, Shipwrecked, Britain's got Talent and all their various counterparts in other countries.

Whatever the show is, there is one universal factor of it; suspense. They prolong the audience, waiting whilst loud music plays, to tell them what exactly is going on. The executives know that this makes good television whilst the public know that it makes for irritating tv.

Doctors especially know this, which is why part of their training, an essential part of training is how to tell people news which may not always be good.

"We have the results in."

Will was reading into every single word the doctor said, every action, and every movement. Lizzie held onto his hand and squeezed slightly. She had chosen to hear the news with the rest of her family in the room.

The results had taken longer than expected and Will had come straight from work to find the family just returning from their meal.

"At the moment we haven't been able to find a match that we're comfortable operating with."

Her hand went limp in his.

"This doesn't mean we're out of options though, there is always a chance that we may find a match somewhere else with an unrelated match."

"I thought you said that wasn't a viable option."

Dr Mathews spread his hands, "It's a bit of swings and roundabouts. It's not the best option because the match won't be a strong but sometimes it can work just as well."

"Doctor," Tilly Bennet asked, "Is there some sort of waiting list?"

"Yes, Lizzie, you'll be put on the national register."

"Is there something that we can do for Lizzie to move up the list?" Darcy was not ashamed to ask this, he would pay any amount if it could guarantee that she would be cured. He did feel conscious of the others in the room turning to him.

"No, I'm afraid there isn't. Going private doesn't change the system."

"So what happens now?"

"Chemotherapy is the next step, meanwhile we will still look at other options."

"I thought you said that Chemotherapy might weaken her meaning that other options wouldn't be viable." Mr Bennet queried.

"That can happen but ultimately chemotherapy is the best option right now."

"Doctor, can you give us a minute alone?" Darcy asked after hesitantly looking at Lizzie.

"Of course, I'll be back to explain all about the procedure when you're ready." He shut the door behind him.

"Lizzie," Robert Bennet began to talk to his daughter.

"I'm going to go for a walk."

"Lizzie," Tilly Bennet began.

"I just need to be alone."

"I have to go call Charlie and Chris," Jane slipped out of the room tears welling in her eyes. Both brothers had been very keen to get tested.

"I should go and call Andrea and James." Tilly left the room. Will suspected that she too, needed to be alone, they had all carried their hopes on this test and now it seemed as though they were gone.

Robert Bennet turned to his daughter but she gave him a look and he realised that she did, truly want to be alone.

"I guess that I'll go and get coffee or something." He turned, and with one last look at his shell shocked daughter, he left.

"Do you really want to be alone or…?"

"Thanks Will but I need time, I'm sorry. I just need to process this."

"Ok, then. Call me if you need to- anything at all."

"Will do."

He walked out of the door, looked both right and left and then worried which way he should go and what he should do.

The family were all doing their own thing, each claiming wanting to be alone but nobody really sure what to do.

Jane sat there with an old scarf and began unpicking threads, winding them around her finger as they fell of the scarf and caught on her clothes. She was waiting for Charlie who was driving to meet her and was barely keeping it together.

Tilly Bennet who had just rung Andrea and James as well as a few other members of the family was struck by an overwhelming sense of panic and an inability to cope.

Robert Bennet was drowning his sorrows in the simplest way possible; drinking. He wasn't going to get properly drunk, obviously but one glass of twenty year old whiskey was alright.

Andrea and James looked at each other and hung the phone up. Neither was sure what to do and Tilly said they weren't needed at the hospital so they sat there and stared at each other. They ordered room service which they didn't touch and then ordered a film which they didn't watch.

Chris, confused and strangely numbed from everything, went for a walk. London was always amazing at night time and walking around with no purpose was a new way to explore the city.

Lizzie wanted to clean. She wanted to hit the age old cliché of a woman in trouble needing to clean and found that she couldn't. Hospitals are, on theory, supposed to be one of the cleanest places and generally they don't allow you to buy your own bleach to clean the place, especially if you are one of the patients, and are ill. Tidying away game boxes wasn't the same thing.

She wanted to run. The way that so many people described running sounded completely amazing to her but all she had felt was sweaty hot exercise. She wanted to escape from her body and run beyond herself, beyond thinking but it didn't seem possible. Still, she pulled her trainers on and jacket and thought she might as well try.

And William Darcy? He went to work. As he was gazing at the illuminated screen, an idea occurred to him.

**Thank you so much for all your reviews. They were so lovely. I was a little stressed as I have decided to take an exam early and didn't feel like I had time to write but all your messages cheered me up so much. Thanks!**

**Life didn't slow down much for me but instead gave me food poisoning. It was all very annoying and had to be reported to the Government as a matter of public health which was a little scary but I'm on the mend now. **

**This was quite a slow chapter and I'm sorry for that. The next chapter will be short but fast, hopefully. I know some of you are worried about Lizzie but don't be! All will be well. **

**This was an opportunity for me to explore some of the characters further. **

**I've also been really touched by all of those who have been personally affected through yourselves and families by cancer. I hope that everything goes well for you. **

**Let me know what you think. **


	27. Cheese souffles and solutions

**So I can't stick to a schedule very well for when I am supposed to update ****.:( I was supposed to be going to Prague but had to cancel that due to being ill and since then I've been catching up with things and exams and then more exams. :(****This chapter was difficult to figure out. **

**Thanks for all your wonderful reviews. I love reading them. :)**

Chemotherapy had started.

Lizzie felt sick but also knew, in the logical part of her brain that it was too early to be feeling that and so felt even more pathetic. She also felt exceptionally frustrated at being linked up to a machine for half a day when there were so many other, better things to be doing.

Jack entered the room, shuffling a pack of playing cards.

"Jack." She smiled at him.

Of all the people to have with her whilst going through this, Jack was the one who would cheer her up the most. Probably seconded by Chris or maybe her Dad. Jane and her Mother wouldn't be much help at cracking stupid jokes and Will would just try so hard in that incredibly sweet way of his that would drive her slowly insane as she tried so hard not to upset him. She didn't have to worry about that with Jack.

"Shall we play a game?"

"Sure," she flicked the radio that was next to her off. "I was listening to I've never seen Star Wars, I'm not sure it's the best idea."

"I've never seen star wars?"

"It's that radio program that was just made into a television series. Marcus Brigstock interviews famous people and gets them to do things they've never done."

"Oh."

"Sandi Toksvig had never seen a football match.

"Really?"

"Yep, she decided afterwards that it wasn't worth it." There was a pause whilst Lizzie picked at her nails, she them looked up at him, "I never got the chance to go to Australia. What do you think would happen if I rang them up asking them to arrange it?"

"Lizzie." He watched her carefully, wondering what exactly she would say next.

"I mean it's a place I've always wanted to go to. It's part of a whole continent that I haven't been to!"

"There is no reason that you can't go, anytime after you get better. Besides, since when did you want to go to every continent? Antarctica, ice cold, polar bears and penguins?"

"Polar bears and penguins don't live in the same place."

"Even so, it's still really, really cold!"

"Well it's not like I'll ever get to go."

"Well no, if Will doesn't stop you I certainly will. You'll thank me when it comes to summer and you still have all your toes."

"Jack, stop making stupid comments!"

"Fine, all right, you can't go to the North Pole probably because the Inuits don't have chemotherapy and like I said before it's cold, really cold. And Australia? You and I will totally make that trip, later when you're better."

Deep down, Jack did genuinely believe this.

She breathed out deeply, "Jack, I'm not going to be able to go Australia! You know why, you've seen the statistics."

Lizzie definitely, as much as she would have liked to have clung to hope definitely believed this.

Her lip quavered and tears threatened to spill out of her eyes.

Jack Robinson had spent his life avoiding serious relationships. He had never committed and flitted in and out of their family and was now at a complete loss for what to do. Emotional women were not exactly what you would call his forte.

"I've never made a cheese soufflé."

He wasn't sure why he had made this comment. Neither was she. It certainly didn't help.

"I'm just saying that everyone has something that they regret, something that they haven't done." He was trying to explain his views to her bemused face.

"You can make a cheese soufflé any time you want. I can't just fly off to Australia," she was angry at his example and he realised she had every right to be.

"I can't make a cheese soufflé, you know that, it would just collapse and be a total disaster," he tried to catch her eye and smile.

"No you can't make a cheese soufflé because you've never stayed in a place long enough to have your own pots and pans and to learn how to actually do it!" She was getting more and more angry partially at his stupid comments, partially about the fact that he was never there, but mostly about the situation.

"Yes, you're right. I don't stay in one place and yes I have been to Australia and I have done a bungee jump and zorbing but you know what? I've never had anyone in love with me before."

"What?"

"Will Darcy is in love with you Lizzie and that's great and that's special and should be worth more than Australia or anything else on your list of things to do."

It seemed like for, quite possibly the first time in his life, Jack Robinson had said the right thing to an emotional woman.

She didn't say anything and he continued.

"You wrote a book! That will always be a little reminder to the world of you. Australia is just a holiday and a place a memory that you would have for awhile, but he'll always have been in love with you."

"Except of course after I'm dead. He can't love me forever." Her voice was bitter.

If it were anyone else she wouldn't have said it. To her mother or Jane she certainly wouldn't have said it. To Will she would have definitely tried not to say it but to Jack she could.

And if anyone else had heard it they would not react in the way that Jack had.

"Are you planning on begrudging him that? Once, you've 'gone' I mean? Not that I believe you're going anywhere but if you're going to talk so morbidly. You want him to never fall in love again?"

Lizzie turned and looked at him properly.

"No, no of course not, I could never expect that of him," and suddenly the tears were pouring down her face again.

Alarmed Jack went to her and encircled his arms around her. She shuddered against him.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to," she wiped her eyes and then tried to smile.

"Now you're apologising for crying? Really, Elizabeth Bennet, she who claimed that you should never be made to feel embarrassed or guilty for your emotions?" Jack was still trying, pathetically, to cheer her up.

"Sorry."

"Sorry? You're apologising for apologising?"

She started to speak again but then realised that she was about to say sorry.

"I hate chemotherapy." She wailed.

"Well I don't. It's the thing that's going to make you better." He kissed her on the forehead and held her to him.

They stayed like this for awhile when she shifted away from him and smiled slightly, "You have to admit it would be incredible romantic if Will wasted away never loving anyone again. Of course I could never do that to him, but it would be romantic."

Jack smiled.

They then went on to play several games of cards, neither of them talking just trying to beat the other in that sibling competition manner that they had always had.

After he had left her, when she had insisted that she was tired and would be fine without him, she sat up and analysed what she was thinking. She realised that she had been acting pathetically and resolved not to do that again. Most importantly, she decided that she wouldn't cry in front of Will.

No matter how much he would insist that he was fine with it, that he wanted her to ring him with anything, she wasn't going to do that with him.

She could cry in front of Jack, she could even cry in front of Chris but she was going to do all that she could to protect Will from this.

********

Christopher Robert Bingley and Fitzwilliam Marcus Darcy were actually far more alike than they would like to think.

They both had a tendency, a tendency that drove Elizabeth Bennet crazy, to make everything simple and easy.

And they both believed that if there was a problem, then there must be a solution.

Technically they were the generation just before the google generation but both knew computers and worked constantly with them as the majority of the people their age did.

Which was why they were both sat in front of them now. William Darcy had been sitting at his desk so long; his legs had completely cramped up.

Jack Robinson who sometimes and now was referred to himself as Jack Bennet was also a member of this generation.

He knew how to work a computer and find answers. But right now he was groaning in frustration as he taped through various search engines and hit another dead end answer looking for a solution for a problem that he wasn't sure had a solution.

That's the thing about answers. It's not a maths test where every question has an answer.

Dealing with this situation there were many different answers. Some which were more right than others.

There were also questions that didn't have answers.

And then there were the questions that only some people could answer.

After two solid hours of surfing it had not occurred to Jack that there were websites that he could not go on, websites that only people with medical backgrounds or those that knew a little bit more about the internet than your basic user could use.

Unlike William Darcy. An idea had certainly occurred to him but it was a slow, torturous process working out all the logistics. He certainly didn't want to be the one who would offer false hope to Lizzie. He had always been the one who would slowly think things out.

Other people were more hot headed. Rash even, without thinking things through properly. Jack Bennet was one of those people, doing everything randomly on a mere whim. Chris Bingley was also made of a similar mould.

Both, especially Chris would have done well to remember the old fable slow and steady wins the race.

********

Sarah Barnes had been beautiful once. She had a perfect figure, eyes, lips, you name it. The only that people might say was wrong with her was that she was rather short. And to compensate for this, the young nurse had worn high heels. All day every day.

Her feet had ached then and they were aching now as she neared the end of a ridiculously long shift in the new shoes she had bought.

She was looking forward for the end of the day. Actually she was looking forward for the end of her career. It had been a long and a great one but retirement would definitely be welcome.

She paused outside the room, resting her feet slightly before checking in on the patient. She was no longer beautiful but there was still something attractive in her face as her soft, maternal eyes gazed at the patient's door.

Elizabeth Bennet. A very pretty, young, vivacious girl to whom life was not being fair. She was scribbling over a piece of paper and so Sarah decided to give her a moment before going in.

It seemed though that she was not going to have a moment alone. A young man, tall and handsome, wearing a suit was approaching her door.

Sarah knew that the girl had a boyfriend. Others had mentioned just how good looking the young man was but now she wasn't so convinced.

His hair colour certainly wasn't as dark as they had made out nor as straight and he wasn't at all how she had pictured him. He didn't look like a William at all and although she was not certain on heights, he looked a little shorter than 'over six foot' as she often had heard him described.

He did not knock but instead pushed the door open.

Not normally a nosey person but unused to people showing up at this time of day without gifts, or flowers, Sarah cricked her head around the open door, shocked to see him, whoever he was, down on one knee.

Lizzie Bennet was equally shocked when he said,

"Elizabeth Bennet, will you marry me?"

"...."

**Duh duh duh! Ok so this might be what you were expecting but it also might not be.... Just remember that are always more surprises to come. **

**And what is Lizzie going to say? To who?**


	28. Planning for the future

"What?"

"Elizabeth Bennet will you marry me? He repeated his question.

"Chris, what the hell? If this is supposed to be funny it is most certainly not!"

"I'm not trying to be funny, I want to talk to you seriously; I really think you should marry me."

"I don't understand! What are you talking about?" Lizzie was growing angry and upset. "This must be some bizarre joke; you're in love with Georgiana."

"What? No I'm not!"

"Christopher."

"Elizabeth." He looked back at her with equal seriousness.

"Oh for god's sake, get up of your knees; I am not going to marry you!"

He grumbled but stood up and, shut the box with a slam, putting it deep in his pocket.

"Now you're going to sit down." Her voice was stern.

Chris sat meekly.

"Have you suffered a serious blow to the head? Have you taken any mind altering drugs? Has anyone paid you a ridiculously large amount of money to do this? Are you in fact not Christopher Bingley but his evil twin?"

"No."

"Then what exactly is going on? Answer me Chris!"

He avoided her gaze.

"Fine, I found a potential solution for the leukaemia but it's in America. New York. The thing is we have amazing health insurance and therefore I would, most likely, be able to get a place with you on this program and you would be covered."

He spoke quickly and it took her awhile for her to work out exactly what he had said.

"Right."

"But it would be insurance fraud and I thought that if you didn't know my full intentions then you couldn't be accused for trying anything."

"That is incredibly sweet and unbelievably stupid."

"Yeah well I had to try something. I've got all the details of the program and I think you should really think about it. And I know it looks illegal but it's pretty much a white collar crime that no one will look into, and think about it, no one's gonna care if it saved your life. So what do you say?"

"Hmm, let me see the ring again."

Chris handed it over and Lizzie pretended to think about it, admiring the thin band with nine small diamonds set into it.

"No Chris, it's not going to happen." She had been joking about the ring but Chris seemed so earnest and serious, "Talk to me about this procedure."

Chris produced the paper work and began to talk through it. It was a new medical trial in New York that had produced some very encouraging results. It wasn't the first trial but the drug was still only available in the United States.

Lizzie leapt forward and hugged him. "Oh Chris."

She leant back suddenly aware that he had just asked her to marry him and that this simple sign of friendship could be misconstrued.

"But that's great, that means there's a cure. I mean look at these numbers, they're brilliant. I certainly don't need to marry anyone."

"Look at the number at the bottom, Lizzie."

"What's that?"

"That's how much I estimate that it will cost you to do all this. That is if they accept you. They're not taking many people and how on earth will you pay?"

"Oh."

The number at the bottom of the page was larger than she would have expected. Much larger.

"Still it's got to be do able, perfectible do able."

"Really?" He looked at her sceptically but then caught her expression, "Oh no, I'm definitely sure it's do able, completely, totally manageable." He was still talking in that nervous, very fast, repetitive manner.

"I'm not going to tease you now, because I'm exceptionally grateful for you finding this but why, Chris, why?"

It was clear to both of them that she was referring to the proposal.

"I didn't want you involved in a crime, I explained that."

"And you really thought that I would say yes? Without knowing anything about your plan?"

He sighed. "I had to try anything Liz, surely you understand that."

"But an actual genuine ring? Did you seriously go out and buy one?"

He pulled the ring out of his pocket and shrugged sheepishly, "No, actually a company gave us one to do a design for, it was in the safe and... well I thought if I was going to propose then I might as well have a ring. Apparently there was a slight error when it was hallmarked and so they are more likely to lend it out."

"So you didn't even get me a proper ring? Hmm..." she smiled and shook her head feeling as though she had just been caught in a complete whirlwind, not quite believing that what had just happened had happened.

There was a pause between the two of them as they both thought over it. The hospital was not particularly warm but both of their cheeks flushed.

Lizzie realised what she would have to do and didn't feel particularly good about it. "Uh, do you realise that I am probably going to have to tell Will what happened."

Chris closed his eyes momentarily.

"I just think that I should be honest with him, you know."

"Yeah, I know, but I'll tell him."

"Chris."

"No, I will. It was a stupid dumb mistake and I can't really explain why I did it."

She waited for him to continue sensing that he wanted her to.

"I suppose part of me just wanted to be the one to save the day, for once," his voice was bitter.

"Chris, you have saved the day, you just didn't need to do all that."

He laughed scornfully, "No I haven't, not really."

She watched him carefully, "Chris, what's wrong with you?

"What's wrong? I've just made a complete arse out of myself and I don't even really know why I did it. Oh and now everyone will know about it."

"No they won't. Will's not likely to tell people about it, I won't."

He didn't exactly look as though he believed her and Lizzie knew that. She gave him a coy smile, "I know why you don't want people to know," her smile grew slightly, "Georgiana."

"I know you think that I'm in love with her but you're wrong Lizzie, Georgiana is nothing more than a good friend, a friend of the family."

"Yeah right."

"Yeah, right," Chris spoke sharply towards her.

"If she's nothing more than a 'family friend' then why are you distancing yourself from her? Why haven't you emailed her in weeks? Especially since she's just started a new university? You know Will hasn't been there for her much and we were really hoping that you could step up and do that."

Lizzie was aware as she reached the end of this little speech that she actually sounded a lot angrier than she actually was. The problem was that she had just received an email from Georgiana, complaining about the very fact that Chris hadn't contacted her and Lizzie felt very guilty.

"_Darcy _hasn't been there for his sister because he's been here for you, as have I. And I don't think it's that wrong for me to be there for my best friend when I find out that she has cancer." Chris was growing angrier. "Especially as originally I was supposed to be somewhere in Asia with her right now. Which obviously isn't going to happen anymore, even when you do get better."

"Why not?"

"Oh don't be stupid, you're obviously going to go off with Darcy and get married, we're not going to go travelling together."

"We can still go travelling together if I'm with Darcy, I mean Will." Even as she said this Lizzie knew that it wasn't likely to happen. "Or you could take Georgiana."

"Lizzie, that's not going to happen, I don't know what you think I feel about her but I think you're wrong. Yes, I haven't been emailing her but that's mainly because I have been pretty busy and I'm not exactly that commitment guy. You knew that ages ago."

She sighed, knowing she wasn't getting anywhere and so deliberately baited him, "I don't understand why you're being so stubborn and ridiculous, and you're obviously in love with her. I mean can you really give me a legitimate reason as to why you're being like this?

There was a pause.

"I thought I was in love with you ok?" he blurted out suddenly. "That's why I wasn't really talking to you much this summer because somewhere deep down I knew I wasn't and never had been and that we were never going to be together. And I was still really wanted to go travelling with you because I was so _sick_ of England and everyone and everything. And I also really really didn't want you to know how I was feeling."

"You thought that you were in love with me?" Lizzie didn't know what to say.

"Yes, well no. It's just that you were the first female friend I had, well apart from Giana.... And I obviously wasn't in love with you but part of me thought that it would have been nice. There was definitely no spark between us."

Lizzie still couldn't believe it.

"In love?"

"No I think I was just jealous of Darcy, I mean I didn't necessary want to be with you but I was jealous of the two of you. You're a great person Lizzie, and I think part of me wanted what he had. I've never stuck around this long in one place and well I found it weird. Seriously it was for like five drunken minutes if that. Men are actually a lot more complex than we're given credit for."

"I don't know. Women are definitely complicated and men and women are completely different."

He rolled his eyes slightly, "Sure, sure women are from mars men are from venus."

"Uh actually women are from Venus and men are a bowl of soup."

"What?"

"Gilmore girls."

"Huh?"

"Oh my god I can't believe you and I are friends, we so need to catch up."

"Right."

The conversation had become bizarrely light and they both caught each other's eye and laughed slightly for a moment.

"We're getting off the point here. The thing is, are you actually admitting that you are in love with Giana?"

He sighed, frowned, stood up and turned his back to her with his hands on his neck. She waited. Eventually he turned back to her.

"I think so," he said in a small voice.

She smiled. "So what are you going to do about it?"

"I can't believe you Liz. I've just basically made a total arse of myself and crapped everything up, you're dealing with cancer and everything and here you are trying to sort my love life?"

"Actually I'm trying to sort Giana's but hey if you fit in it, which I think you do, it works for me."

"And you think I fit in to Giana's life?"

"Do you?"

"Does her brother know that you're having this conversation about her?"

"Why do you care what Will thinks?"

"Because it's his sister."

Lizzie exhaled. "You need to stop seeing her as little Georgy Darcy, otherwise I'm going to question your feelings for her."

"I don't see her like that. It's just that I used to and it's strange. She was always Darcy's little sister and he and Charlie wouldn't let me hang out with them so I spent time with her. Then she was my friend and someone I would email whilst I was travelling and now I don't know. It seems to me that there are so many more reasons for me not to try than there are to. It could all go so wrong."

"Yes, you could try and fail. Or you could never try and never get what you want and spend life wishing that you had tried."

"You always make it sound so simple."

"That's a trick I learnt from you. I mean look at this," she held up the paper that he had shown her earlier. "You didn't have to do this. You didn't have to try. You probably knew that it wouldn't work out but you still tried. And even though it didn't work out as you had planned it has still worked."

"Yay for the pep talk!"

She gave him a glare. "I'm not the one about to tell Will Darcy that I proposed to his girlfriend."

"Oh God. I have to though, don't I?"

"You're the one who suggested it."

It was at this point that the nurse Sarah Barnes walked into the room, realising that there was no point in delaying giving medication any longer. She bustled into the room, smiling cheerfully as though she was unaware of the fact that the young man had just proposed and seemed to have been turned down.

Chris tried to stay with Lizzie but it wasn't long before Jane showed up and he realised how cowardly he was being and left to find Darcy.

As he was running the potential conversation that might happen between himself and Darcy he realised that the one he might have with Georgiana could be far worse.

He didn't bother ringing Darcy, as he felt that he couldn't do it over the phone but that if he heard Will's voice he might chicken out completely.

Besides, he knew where he would be; at the office.

Darcy had far better medical contacts than himself and he would probably be booking the flights right now ensuring that Lizzie would get the best possible care. He wasn't jealous but Chris had come to that realisation that he just wasn't that guy.

Chris was proven right. Darcy was still in his office and as the lift doors opened Chris was given the distinct impression that Darcy had not only been there for several hours but also quite possibly several days.

Clothes were folded in a pile next to a sofa with a pillow and a blanket. Chris smiled a little at this; Darcy was always going to be the type who folded clothes. He knew Darcy had a shower built into his office, so he was obviously clean but he could see a tray lying on the floor with an empty but dirty plate.

Darcy himself was leaning against a desk, his brow furrowing as he frantically read the screen.

Chris unsure how to begin, Darcy secretary had just smiled and said he could go on up, coughed.

Darcy jumped and knocked his hand against a cup that was lying next to him. Coffee started to pour over the table.

"Shit."

Darcy started to mop it up and Chris realised that this was not exactly a promising omen of things to come.

It was moped up relatively quickly and Will looked up properly to talk to Chris.

"Hi."

"Oh hi, sorry about that," he gestured to the mess.

"Not my fault. I wasn't expecting anyone that's all."

"Yeah well I convinced your assistant to let me up, I need to talk to you."

"Right." Will was a little confused and impatient, he did have rather a lot to be getting on with.

"I uh went to see Lizzie." There was a pause."She's doing well." Another pause and Chris cleared his throat and continued. "I wanted to talk to her about a trial that I found in New York."

"The Rushton trial?" Darcy was irritated.

"Uh yes?"

"The Rushton trial that is in New York and that she has almost no hope of getting into? The rushton trial that I have been working my arse off trying to find more information about? You told Lizzie?"

Chris shifted uncomfortably.

"Didn't you realise that it would be just offering her false hope that she and her family don't really have much chance of it actually happening? ."

"Well.......yes."

"Why Chris? Firstly, how did you even find out about the trial when I've been emailing people for days? You must have looked at the figures and realised. I know you might have wanted to help but I really don't think it was sensible for you to have done that. Could you have done _anything _worse?"

Chris realised that if he was going to be honest he might as well be completely honest and admit that yes, he could and had done worse.

"Uh well yeah I told her about the trial, I thought I could get her a place on it. I sort of asked her to marry me."

That certainly wasn't what Will had been expecting.

"You had better give me a hell of a reason as to why I shouldn't punch you in the face right now." He had been frustrated and tired before Chris had entered but this had really pushed him.

"She said no," Chris thought he might as well try this answer.

Darcy said nothing and turned away from Chris.

"I yelled at her as well."

"You yelled at her?" Darcy had whipped round to face Chris.

"Yes. But it didn't mean anything. I mean really Darcy, it was just something that I was trying.

"What the hell were you thinking? I mean, for God's sake Chris!"

"I wasn't thinking, ok? I wasn't thinking. I just wanted to make sure she was ok. I care about her and would quite like her to survive this!"

"Oh and I don't?" Wills voice was cutting.

There was no response.

"Chris," he sighed and it was as though he was about to talk again when there was a binging noise from the computer and they both turned.

Will went over and clicked on a few things whilst Chris looked around the office trying exceptionally hard to avoid all eye contact with him.

He turned his back and stared at the collection of black and white photographs of London that Will had on his wall.

There was the sound of the printer spurting into life and Will turned to him, still with a coldness in his eyes.

"Well it looks like I've managed to clean up your mess. I've got Lizzie a place on the trial. We fly to New York in three days."

"Oh, wow," Chris turned, very happy to hear that news. "That's great, really fantastic. I mean it should work, you've seen the numbers," he was smiling.

Darcy turned to him coldly. "That doesn't make what you did ok. I mean it may be fixed but it doesn't mean everything's all right."

"I was just trying to help."

"Huh, well ....you really didn't think that through did you? You know what Chris, I've got to go visit Lizzie in the hospital and tell her that potential good news but I would really appreciate it if you stayed out of my life for awhile."

He turned away, picked up the piece of paper, his jacket and briefcase and without another backwards glance, he left.

Chris sighed and slumped but then decided to once again ignore Darcy's advice. Well, it wasn't so much as ignoring as finding a way around it. He had said to stay out of his life but that didn't mean he had to stay out of Lizzie's or _Georgiana's. _

Lizzie had said that he might as well try and he really supposed that he should. His trying before had screwed things up with Darcy but that was only to be expected but Lizzie was going to New York.

He pulled out his phone and began dialling.

******

Will was smiling nervously as he approached Lizzie's door. He was excited by the email he had received and what it could mean for her and for him.

"Will," she smiled as he entered. She was sitting with her legs tucked up in bed plaiting her hair in a series of hundreds of tiny plaits obviously bored.

"Lizzie."

"Have you spoken with Chris?" she asked nervously, gazing at him with her head tilted trying to gage his reaction to this.

"Yes. And I don't exactly agree with the methods that he tried to do it but," he paused slightly and smiled, "I've got you a place on it."

"What?" she scrambled off the bed and leapt towards him.

He stepped back under her weight but then spun her around off the bed and hugged her.

She looked up at him, "How? You didn't pay that amount of money did you?"

He put her down, carefully. "No, I didn't." He wasn't sure how happy she would be to find out what he had actually done.

"Well, what then?" she motioned for him to sit down. "You didn't commit insurance fraud did you?"

"No." He didn't know what she was talking about. "I originally spent a lot of time emailing Professor Maurice Pledger who is running the trial, trying to see if my connections would get us anywhere but they wouldn't."

"Right."

"The Trial's been getting a lot of publicity and Maurice is quite a moral man and couldn't be seen to be giving a back hand to someone he knew or for financial reasons."

"So what did you do?" Lizzie wasn't sure why but she was worried.

"Well I spoke with Professor Pledger again but I also contacted a few of my other contacts in business. You know the drug that was developed over the summer?"

"The one that's really expensive, that you haven't released yet because you haven't been offered enough money?"

"That's the one. Well we lowered our price, gave a few hospitals special access and....we'll now you have a place. There was a certain amount of I suppose you could call it bribery involved but....." he stopped talking when he saw the expression on Lizzie's face.

"You did what?"

"We lowered the price. Professor Pledger agreed that it was far better to let one person into his trial than to not have our drug on the market."

"But surely you can't just lower it by yourself? What about the board of executives?"

"They agreed," he shrugged, "That's why I haven't been here, I had a lot to arrange."

"It'll lose your hundreds of thousands of pounds, maybe millions. You can't do that for me."

"I didn't."

She looked at him.

"No I didn't do it for you; I did it because of you. It was all so political about the cost of the drug and then I realised that it didn't need to be. Sure we probably would have been able to sell it eventually for the price we were asking but what was the point in waiting whilst people were getting sick and we had the cure?"

"But you'll lose money."

"No, we won't make as large a profit margin as we had first thought. But really, does that matter? In this recession, is anyone making as much money as the originally thought? Shouldn't we be caring about what's the best for people not the best for making money? You made me realise that's what we should be doing."

She stared at him and then opened her mouth only to say, "I think I'm going to be sick."

It seemed chemotherapy was having an effect on her body.

She was. Afterwards as she was wiping her mouth, she still couldn't comprehend it.

"Are you sure you can do this? I mean haven't you essentially blackmailed this Pledger guy?"

He paused, "I suppose so, and I know you don't really approve, but occasionally this is how the world works and you're just going to have to go along with it."

She frowned slightly. He carried on.

"Look, I know this is good news but I don't think we should get our hopes up. I mean hopefully we'll go over and it'll be fine but just in case it's not, I just think we should be careful."

"Ok, I agree but I'm still really excited," she smiled and tears sprung to her eyes. To cover this up she leant forward and hugged him.

Eventually, Will had to leave. He didn't want to but there were still a few details to arrange. Lizzie called Jane who had only left her about an hour before he had arrived. They had agreed that they would tell everyone that she was having treatment in New York but that they wouldn't go into a huge amounts of details.

*******

Georgiana was tired and looking forward to curling up with a hot chocolate and a film. Perhaps the best thing about university was the freedom it allowed her. She wasn't going to have dinner and no one could tell her not to.

Dropping her keys at the door she saw the light was flashing on her answering machine.

"You have one new message." The automated voice told her.

She pressed play.

"Uh, hi Georgy um sorry Giana, if this is Giana. Is it? Sorry this is Chris."

She frowned at the machine.

"Look, I'm sorry that I haven't been in contact recently but I was thinking about swinging by this weekend to catch up. I know I've been kind of a bad friend but I would like to make that up to you. I might need a place to stay, just a sofa or something. Ring me back and let me know your thoughts. It's Chris by the way."

She smiled and pressed the save button.

********

Her brother was smiling at the same time. The flights had been arranged, medical care had been provided and planned, should Lizzie need it and it was all falling into place.

To New York, therefore, they were to go.

**Anyone know where I stole and then adapted that last line from? **

**Thanks for everyone who's read and reviewed, hopefully this takes it off of a cliff-hanger for you. I know that a lot of this really isn't that feasible but it is fiction and I did some research and it's not completely insane, although it does seem it. **

**A lot of people were starting to grow unsure about Chris and I have to say I agree with them. He's great in his own special way but he is very flakey and doesn't think things through. A nice guy for someone but William Darcy works better. **

**Chris is also very unsure of things (mainly his emotions) which makes him a difficult character. **

**Would love to know your thoughts. **


	29. In love?

"Pyjamas?"

"Check."

"Toothbrush?"

"Check."

"Toothpaste?"

"Uh Check."

"Flannel?"

"Check. Ok let's do this in a logical way. I have toothpaste, brush, mouthwash, flannel, soap, make up and make up remover. I've got one, two, three, seven pairs of knickers and 3 bras. I've got a series of different outfits, some for the day and some for the night. I have three jumpers, a scarf, a hat and some gloves."

"Okey dokey."

Jane looked up at Lizzie as she started to sift through the items in her case. She smiled at her younger sister, "You're going to New York!"

"Yep, seems like it."

They grinned at each other.

******

"OK, so if you have time whilst in New York you need to check in at the office. Henry's going to postpone the actually announcement for a few days but we may need you to check your emails and things." Celia Fitzwilliam was taking a more active part in the company given the amount of work that had to be done with the new release of the drug.

"Will do. Lizzie will probably be involved in all sorts of treatments so I may have a lot of time on my hand. As long as I have my laptop, I can pretty much work anywhere."

"Ok." Celia Fitzwilliam was checking on her nephew and had given him the latest information on how the drug was being received.

She hovered by the door of the office.

He turned to her wondering what his Aunt, who normally never hesitated over anything was going to say.

"Look, if you are going to propose to her, don't do it in a restaurant. I mean the Empire State building restaurant is incredibly romantic but it will just make her uncomfortable doing it there, and it is rather cliché." This came out very quickly and Celia immediately started to look at her nails.

Propose?

Why would Celia think that he was going to do that?

"Uh well thanks for the advice, but I don't think now is the right time for me to be thinking about anything like that." This response took awhile as Will didn't know exactly what to say.

In his mind there had been moments where he had envisioned the two of them together, planning for their future where he could see them married and living in a large house in the countryside.

He could picture children, running around, giggling with Lizzie, all sorts of things but from the moment that she had been sobbing on his shoulder at that hotel room his priorities had shifted and he had thought about the present. After all, a small part of his brain rationed that there was no point fantasizing about a future that might not happen.

"Really?" His Aunt was standing, leaning against the frame of the door but at this she came further into the room, shutting the door behind her.

"Why is that surprising to you?"

"Well surely now's exactly the time to be thinking about it?"

"Not really. I mean as promising as the figures look I don't want to get her or my hopes up."

"I know that and I understand it but you love her and she loves you, so why wait?"

"Hmm I dunno, because we've barely been together for a minute?"

"That's not true, you've known her for a long time. Besides, your parents barely knew each other when they got engaged and look how well that turned out."

"I know that but there's no sense in rushing things. There's no sense in panicking about the cancer and rushing things."

"Isn't that exactly what you should be doing?"

He looked at her not understanding what she meant.

She gave him a rather sympathetic look.

"Look, I'm not saying that this will happen, I really don't think that it will but it could turn out that this treatment doesn't work and that ultimately Lizzie only has about a year or so at best. Like I said, I don't think that will happen but it could. Wouldn't it be better for you to spend that remaining time together as man and wife?"

He looked at his Aunt very carefully, "Uh I mean we're not really that traditional in that sense of marriage." He felt hot and his collar seemed tight.

"Darling, I had rather expected that you were having sex with her by now. Hell I saw the way that you were dancing with her at the ball, the pair of you practically were sex."

"But then what do you mean about marriage?

She sighed at him, "Sometimes you are so obviously male."

"That's not fair. I'm not being a typical male scared of commitment, I just don't see the point in having some ceremony where everyone is going to know what's going to happen to the bride. It's going to be some terribly sad depressing party." He looked as though he was going to finish when he added,

"And another thing, why should we waste our time, Lizzie's precious time planning this stupid event that would be totally, ridiculously depressing?"

"Look I see where you're coming from, I honestly do but I really think you should think about it. Look, wouldn't it be wonderful if you could make Lizzie, Mrs Darcy even for the shortest of times?"

"I just don't see that it matters. I love her and she loves me and we shouldn't have to prove that to anyone."

"But surely that would just be a reason for never getting married?"

"No, I'm just saying that I don't want to waste time planning a big ceremony and so if we were going to get married it would probably be some really small little ceremony and so therefore it wouldn't be for any of the reasons that you said of everyone celebrating with each other."

"Ok, I see what you're saying; I just think that it's something worth considering. Every girl, no matter what she says likes the idea of a wedding."

That was a huge generalisation of women but Celia really felt that it was something that her nephew ought to consider.

"I think that there are all sorts of other things that I need to consider before anything like that."

If Cecilia Fitzwilliam was a different person or if her nephew was not in such a vulnerable state with the possibility of what she was thinking of saying seeming so eminent she would have made a comment about how he should get married if only for the fact that he would get a lot of sex for mentioning that he was a widow, but it just wasn't appropriate and was in fact exceptionally tacky.

******

"Can you pass me those magazines?"

There was no response to this rather frantically asked question.

"Lucy!"

Earphones were removed irritably from a pair of ears and the girl in question who was presumably named Lucy turned towards Georgiana Darcy. "What?"

"The magazines!" If Georgiana Darcy was a cartoon then her eyes would have been popping out of her head and bugging in and out.

"Gee, relax ok? It's going to be fine. He is not going to care about a few poxy magazines lying around."

"I dunno, it's my experience that if there the right type of magazines any guy will care," Rebecca entered the room carrying food.

Georgiana looked around the room and turned back at her two roommates and sighed. She loved University, her classes and her teachers and her roommates which was something that she had been most worried about but she wished at this particular time that they were tidy people.

"Becca!"

"Yes, Rebecca," Lucy smiled. "Don't tease the girl, she's in love."

A cushion was thrown across the room and hit a photo frame knocking it to the floor.

"Careful now Gee, you wouldn't want to make a mess, would you?"

Another cushion was thrown missing Rebecca by miles.

"You two are being completely unfair!"

Lucy and Becca looked at each other and then at Georgiana's pout and then burst into laughter. This carried on for some time and just as they were controlling their giggles the phone rang. Giana, the only one who had not been creased over in hysterics leapt for the phone just in case it was Chris.

"Hello?" She was slightly breathless having leapt across the sofa to reach the phone.

"Georgiana?"

"Will? It's me."

"Georgy, sorry Giana. Hi, I just wanted to ring you." There was a coughing noise in the background. "Sorry it seems Lizzie wanted me to ring you."

"Sure, sure," she was smiling now and her roommates had started to notice this.

"Oh is little Georgiana talking to her little crush?" Rebecca said in a deliberately loud voice to Lucy so that whoever was on the phone might overhear.

"Oh is she in lurve with him?"

They both started to make kissing noise and Giana swatted at them before moving into her room and shutting the door behind her.

"Sorry, you were saying?" She asked her brother.

"Oh Gee I want you so bad." There was another yell and more giggles through the door.

"What was that?" Will asked.

"Nothing," and then she took the phone away from her ear and yelled, "Just some annoying roommates who won't get any of my special carrot cake if they aren't nice to me."

There was no carrot cake but she knew it might shut them up for awhile.

"Ok." Will sounded dubious. "Anyway I was just ringing to say that we're flying out tomorrow and that we'll ring when we get there. I'll probably email you as well. We're hoping, obviously depending on how things go, to come and make a proper visit to you, Lizzie feels bad that we haven't yet."

"Oh she shouldn't."

"I can't really say when it might be, I'll have a clearer idea when we get there, if you could just try to keep your schedule free."

"Sure, will do."

There was a sudden shout as her two flatmates realised that she had lied about the cake.

"Georgiana Darcy, you lied!"

"I think she wanted us out of the way, to talk to lurver boy."

"Oooh Oh." Kissing noises were now being made through the door.

Will was catching far more of this conversation than his sister would have liked. "Georgy do you have a date?"

This was not a question that either of them felt particularly comfortable discussing and feeling her cheeks heat up, Giana just mumbled, "No."

She tried to explain that her flatmates were having a joke but over the long distance it didn't work and after final plans, comments and reassurances had been made the phone call ended relatively quickly.

"Thanks a lot." Georgiana stormed into the room, slamming her bedroom door behind her.

"Someone's in a mood," Rebecca nudged Lucy. They were both still in very high spirits which Giana was no longer amused with.

"That was my brother."

"Oh." This sobered them. They knew about the situation involving her brother and his girlfriend. "We're sorry," Rebecca added, "We thought it was Chris."

"Yes, well Will's not exactly talking to him right now, so I didn't exactly want to share that information."

"Sorry, if we had known, we wouldn't have." The girls did feel guilty.

"Why is your brother not talking to Chris?" Lucy came and sat next to Giana.

"Oh Chris asked Lizzie to marry him the other day, it's very complicated."

Both roommates had wide eyes. Giana proceeded to tell the story.

******

"Bye, drive safe," Lizzie hung up the phone just as Will was entering the room after picking up lunch.

"Who was that?"

Lizzie wasn't going to lie to Will and didn't see why she needed to. "Chris."

"Oh."

There was a long pause.

"Look I'm not going to not talk to him just because you're not talking to him."

"I know. You shouldn't have to do that anyway."

"I just wanted things to be clear."

She looked at him in what was known as her best babysitting look, the type that she had to perfect as a teenager.

"I was probably a little too hard on him."

"Threatening violence and not allowing him to talk to you when he was only trying to help? No, not at all."

"I'm going to ring him, honestly I already meant to but I haven't got round to it. I was just so angry with him and so worried about you and whether it was going to work. I didn't think and I was so worried you weren't going to get a place and....everything."

There was an unspoken sentence hanging in the air saying, "I was worried you were going to say yes."

Lizzie knew this and knew that however honest Will had become with her this wasn't something that he was likely to admit to her.

"But I got a place on the trial and that's in the past. So you need to apologise and then we won't worry about it because it'll be over and done with and be fine."

"I'm not so sure."

"It'll be fine."

There was a pause and they found that they were both staring at the space between them where the phone was lying.

"You know....I wouldn't have said yes. Even if I couldn't have got a place on the trial, I wouldn't have said yes."

There was a pause and a questioning look in Will's eyes.

She rubbed his arms gently, "It might have been flattering if it were anyone else, but it was Chris but really I doubt there is anybody who could have asked me and I would have said yes."

"Anybody?" His voice was hoarse.

"Well almost anybody," there was a slight twinkle of suggestiveness in her eye.

"About that, I was talking to my Aunt earlier."

She looked at him curiously and he realised he hadn't clarified which Aunt.

"Celia. She has presumed that I will um popping the question so to say sometime soon. I was wondering your thoughts on that."

"No Will," she shook her head, almost sadly. "I don't want to discuss that idea right now."

"Oh, I just thought....."

She smiled at him, "I have far too many things to be thinking about."

It was left at that. What she didn't tell him was that she had thought about it. What she also didn't tell him was that she loved the idea. What she didn't tell him was that she wanted to be swept off her feet and not have it planned in advance.

And what she didn't tell herself was that sometimes, just occasionally it scared her more than the cancer did.

*******

Rebecca Hones returned home from a trip to the college library to find the living area filled with the deliciously warm sent of baking. Georgiana Darcy was in the kitchen looking rather flustered and surprisingly cooking.

"Mmm that smells nice."

Giana jumped up, "Oh it's you. I've made a lemon tart."

"Chris's favourite by any chance?"

Giana winced. "Yes."

As she stood up away from the oven and fanned herself, Rebecca could now look at her properly. "Did you get your hair done?"

"Um, yes."

She could have mocked her for this fact but instead Rebecca just looked at her. "You really like this guy, don't you?"

"Yeah." Giana twiddled with her newly styled hair nervously.

"Does he know?"

"No."

"You going to tell him?"

"No."

Rebecca tilted her head sympathetically. "You really should."

"I know. I might."

"Really?" Rebecca was sceptical.

"Probably not. Maybe someday." She said with false hope.

Rebecca leant forward to the desktop and grabbed a finger full of the remaining lemon liquid that had been used as the filling. She licked her finger, "Now as good as this tart is, I'm thinking that this Chris guy is not going to be won over by a tart and a new haircut."

Giana sighed.

"Well, he might be won over by a certain type of tart."

A tea towel was flicked at her.

"So, he gets here in what an hour? Well when Lucy gets back we'll all go out for a couple of drinks, she'll bring along Matt, I'll find someone, maybe Steve. Anyway after awhile Lucy and I will leave making sure that we leave the pair of you two slightly inebriated lovebirds on your own for the fun to begin."

"I don't know." Georgiana didn't really like the sound of that; it didn't seem it could go that well, all sorts of things could happen.

"Ok, not drunk, drunk. I'm not suggesting you get absolutely plastered but a glass or two might help you along the way."

"Maybe."

"Even if you don't want to tell him how you feel, he's going to know something's up if you're acting this nervous."

She wasn't sure why she felt this nervous but Giana had to admit that something was up. She thought that she had had these feeling for Chris before but it had never been this much of an issue. Perhaps this was because this would be one of the first times that she was alone, properly alone.

If Giana was nervous, Chris was doubly so. He was aware of the same things that she was and wanted the same things but again, like her didn't want her to know.

********

"Hello there," Sarah popped her head round Lizzie's door. "Lizzie, there's a women here to see you. I told her that it wasn't visiting hours but she won't go. She's insisting that she know you and is demanding to see you."

"Oh." Lizzie had got to know Sarah quite well and knew that she would recognize most of the visitors that Lizzie was likely to get. "What's her name?"

"Lady Catherine De Bourg."

"Oh."

Sarah watched as the young girl's face grew nervous and pale.

"I'll turn her away. She shouldn't be visiting at this time anyway; I just thought that she might know you."

"She might refuse to go; she can be rather difficult."

"Then I'll call security." Sarah smiled.

"You will do no such thing!" A regal voice loudly proclaimed outside of the room.

"Oh fuck," Lizzie muttered under her breath as the door was thrown open.

**Yes, that is a cliff-hanger but it is not a major cliff hanger. I know not a lot happened but we've reached that stage. **

**We are finally near the end! Yay. This story has been rather dragging on. I have some new ideas though but want to get the stories pretty much complete before I start posting. Some people have suggested that I continue In the End so that is a possibility. I also want to look at the idea of doing something where Lizzie and Darcy are friends but I have a feeling it may be clichéd. **

**Review, I love hearing from you all so much. **


	30. New York and new relationships

"You may go, now," She waved her hand imperiously at Sarah.

"Actually I'm sorry but I still have some medical treatment to do in here and you may need to wait awhile outside."

Lady Catherine turned around slowly.

"Are, you aware _nurse_," and this word was said with such malice that should not be possible when mentioning a profession. "Of just who I am?"

Sarah Barnes was not a young nurse and had many years of experience and had she not been close to retirement she would not have said, "No, should I?"

There was a stuttering, spluttering sound. "I will speak to Miss Bennet right now, alone and you will be lucky to find yourself working tomorrow."

Sarah looked as though she would say and aware that standing up to Catherine De Bourg would probably get her nowhere, Lizzie turned to the nurse and silently Okayed her to go.

Sarah was not happy about it but she left the room anyway.

"I am sure you aware of why I am here."

Lizzie said nothing, presuming that the blank expression on her face would not show what she was thinking.

"A report, a news report of the most alarming nature had reached me."

Lizzie said nothing but she had a very good idea of what that news report was and why the woman before her was so upset.

"I know that you are aware of what I am referring to. You know what William is trying to do to the company because you are the reason that it has happened."

Lizzie squirmed for a moment and then realised that she had no reason to feel guilty because what Will had chosen to do by himself was a good decision.

Lady Catherine continued. "What you prehaps don't know is how much this will cost us, how it will devastate the company?"

It wasn't even her company that was what was making Lizzie so angry. She knew that no one would have lost their jobs or anything close to the things that Lady Catherine was insinuating.

Catherine could see that she wasn't getting anywhere with her and so started to make the demands that she had travelled all this way to.

"You will tell him that you are not in love with him. You will tell him that it is wrong of him to do this to his company."

"I will not." Lizzie sat up further in the bed, wishing that she could get out of it properly so there wouldn't be as much of the obvious height difference. "Frankly I don't see what business it is of yours."

"Of course it is my business!" Lady Catherine was almost incandescent with rage. "It is my family name and company and I will not have you affect it in this way."

"I was not the one who made the decision and I do not appreciate you trying to blame me for something that I believe is one of the best decisions the company has ever made." Lizzie had started to fight back.

Lady Catherine recognized this and it seemed as if she was changing her tack when she paused and stood back slightly, eyebrows raised.

"You are aware that you may never have children?" Her voice had changed and was lower but full of malice.

She was aware of that actually. It was something that she and Will had been told about before she had started the chemotherapy. It wasn't a high risk, certainly not like the treatments for breast cancer but there was a chance. Lizzie had felt very odd being told this, it wasn't necessarily something that she had desperately wanted but being told that it might not happen had been strange. She had felt oddly guilty.

"What, you two are going to stay together for awhile and watch as _your _inability to carry his children slowly destroys you. Because he will blame you; how can he not? And then what will happen, you'll become so bitter and resentful of each other that you'll break up and you'll have to watch as he runs off with some pretty young thing that has been waiting throughout your relationship."

Lizzie blinked at her.

"And believe me there will be young women. He will be perfectly able to go off and have an adorable baby girl, whose middle name might be Elizabeth just to remind him of you and of who he will send you little Christmas cards with her picture on whilst you are all alone. And you will be alone because you have wasted the best years of your life on him."

At this point Sarah Barnes had entered the room claiming, "Well I'm sorry but I've delayed treatment long enough and I need to carry on so I'll ask you again to leave."

Lady Catherine turned with all the grandeur of an actress on the west end. "And I too, am sorry for what I was trying to do. The fact that I was trying to save you and my nephew from misery seems to have been totally unappreciated but you mark my words if you were an intelligent, free thinking young women who could see what true sense was, then you would do what I had told you."

The moment she was gone, Lizzie slumped back in her bed, shocked.

Sarah Barnes had known that it was wrong to listen at the door. It was closed to stop this from happening. Once again, she was thankful of the timing. It provided her with the immunity she had always wanted. It meant that she could pick up the phone at reception and ring Will Darcy without the slightest feeling of guilt.

It had also meant that she could barge into room and demand that the women leave without the smallest worry of repercussions.

Ringing William Darcy may have been a tad extreme but Sarah had been horrified of what that woman had been saying to Lizzie and despite saying something to her what else was she supposed to do?

She hadn't managed to get through to him but instead had left a message with his secretary saying that it was the hospital and no, it wasn't an emergency but if he could ring her back. She supposed that when he rang back she might not be as angry and not tell him. She could always talk to Lizzie about it.

*******

The front door was opened in excitement.

"Giana!" There was a shout and Chris was there carrying a large bag on his shoulder and a carrier bag.

"Chris, you made it," she leant forward and kissed him on each cheek. "I was worried you wouldn't find it."

"No your directions were very good."

He entered the flat and handed the carrier bag to Giana. "There are some flowers in there for you and a bottle of wine."

"That's lovely. Let me just put these in a vase and I'll pour a glass for you."

She was in a kitchen putting the wine bottle in the freezer so that it would cool faster just like Mrs Reynolds had taught her and was suddenly struck by what their conversation had been about. It sounded so old, as though he was a guest at a dinner party she was holding, not the friend and the university student that they were.

There had to be something wrong with that, surely?

She entered back into the main living space without the drinks and Chris turned to her in surprise.

"No drinks?"

"I don't know, I thought that it seemed a little old of us. I've got some friends that might like to meet you, my roommates and maybe we can go onto a club? I mean you're staying tonight aren't you?"

That was the last thing that Chris wanted. He wanted to talk to Giana alone not with a group of people in a crowded pub or club.

"I don't know why don't we stay here for awhile and catch up on things? It's been awhile since we've seen each other." He was nervous and knew that this was showing so added, "You can show me off later. We'll get a drink here and some food and then you can go around parading me off."

She hit him lightly across the chest.

"I suppose that makes sense. I'll go and get those drinks." Giana walked into the kitchen and leaned against the sink, turning the tap on to let the cold water run against her veins to calm her down. She pulled her hair down; she had put it up as she always did when stressed.

She came back with the glasses and the conversation began. Or rather didn't.

For some reason they always seemed to get caught up on family and this reminded Chris of why he shouldn't tell her how he felt.

Or they ended up talking about her family which meant talking about Will which lead them on to Elizabeth which made her question whether Chris still had feelings for her.

After about half an hour of niceties Chris asked where the bathroom was and from this they both realised that he still hadn't received a tour or found out anything about her new life.

Giana decided that she would show him the flat and then some of the campus before they would finish in the student union. There wasn't much to show just the kitchen and the bathroom; she didn't dare take him into her roommates' birthday so all that was left was her room.

"Very nice," Chris said almost before the door was opened and then he caught sight of the main feature of the room. "A double bed? Is there any need for you to have that?" Chris had made this comment in nervousness but covered it up with laughter.

She gave him a look and picked up her purse and scooted him out of her room. Little did either one of them know that just a few hours later they would both be lying in it.

Not that it would be a smooth journey.

******

"Shit, Bec it's going so horribly." Giana groaned in the ladies room of the local pub where she had dragged Chris knowing that there would be a crowd there.

"Relax a little with him; it's not going to go well if you're so tense. Why don't you try to go off, just the two of you?"

"Because it was awful!" Georgiana was whining.

"And you don't want to try getting drunk? Or getting him drunk?"

"No."

"What about pretending to be drunk?"

"What?"

"You know pretend to be drunk. That way when you tell him how you actually feel, if he doesn't necessarily agree he can chalk it up to the alcohol."

"Um maybe." She supposed that it might be a fairly decent idea. She was rather nervous of how he might respond and this could be a get out clause.

Chris sat at the table, trying to make conversation with students years younger than him and reached the same conclusion.

*****

The flight was ok and that was all that it was. As Lizzie had joked it was better than the last flight they had taken back from Belfast.

He supposed it was. There was certainly no turbulence and he wasn't as worried as he had been last time for the actual flying but that didn't mean that it was a better flight.

He was so worried about Lizzie and so angry about his Aunt and what she had said as well as being so worried about the future that his usual anxieties about flying had passed.

Not that he had told Lizzie this. He hadn't intentionally kept it from her but it was rather nice having her being so concerned for him until he had told her for the eight time that he was fine and let her get some sleep.

Will wished that luxury would come to him. He was so indecisive and that was so unusual for him. Both his Aunts had presumed that he would be marrying Lizzie but was it something that needed to be dealt with now. Of course he wanted to, but getting married just in case seemed wrong and surely that was what it would be.

Lizzie hadn't brought up the subject when Will had arrived at the hospital for what was supposed to be the last time in England. He had approached it tentatively but firmly and categorically denied everything his Aunt had said.

Lizzie had been rather embarrassed and wanted to get off the conversation having vented all her feelings to her sister and Sarah but feeling that it wasn't right to have this conversation with her boyfriend about his family.

The subject of children came up briefly but the idea was tossed aside firstly by Lizzie avoiding the conversation and then his phone ringing.

He wanted to bring it up again but she had seemed so uncomfortable talking about her.

What he wanted to tell her was that it didn't matter to him, none of it did. The only thing that mattered to him was her.

******

"This is a great song!" Giana shouted into Chris' ear.

For some reason they had ended up in a club. Neither wanted to be there but neither of them had the guts to say anything.

"Yeah." He nodded despite the fact that he didn't really know what song was; it was so loud he could barely hear it. "Shall I get some more drinks?" He offered and she nodded before turning around dancing to the beat.

He wasn't sure that this was the best idea as it certainly seemed that she had been drinking a lot tonight. Oddly she didn't seem drunk but there had been odd moments. He turned to look back waiting for a barman to come to his attention and saw Giana dancing with some guy. She wasn't dancing sexily, they were barely together and she had introduced the guy to Chris and he was almost certainly gay or unlikely to marry ever but something in him snapped.

He walked over to Giana, touched her gently on the arm and whispered in her ear, "Have you seen the price of these drinks? Why don't we just go back to your flat and have some wine. I'm really tired."

Georgiana nodded, she didn't actually love the song and her feet, with the shoes she had borrowed from Lucy, were killing her.

The whole evening had been completely crap. At the bar they had brought drinks but Chris had wanted to pay and then she wanted to and for some strange reason it had turned into something far more than someone paying for drinks. There was both too much for each to say.

Neither had spoken for awhile until the group of her friends arrived. This took some of the tension off but Giana felt very conscious due to the looks she was receiving from Rebecca and Lucy. The two didn't help with all the questions, intimate questions that they were asking the pair.

"So are you dating anyone right now Chris?"

"Why not? An attractive guy like you? Giana why didn't you tell us that Chris was this good looking?"

"You know you two have great colouring? You would look great together in photos. Seriously Luce, can you imagine how cute their wedding photo would be?"

Warning shots were glared at her roommates but to little effect.

"We're thinking about setting Giana up, Chris. What do you think? Do you know anyone suitable for her?"

"Don't you think it's weird, I read this article about how the average married couple knows each other for two years before they even started dating. But it's weird because both my parents and Becky's parent didn't know each other before they started to date, like they hadn't met. So we were thinking that obviously lots of people are like this and others have to balance them out." There was a long pause and Giana's eyes grew wide in fear, "Say, how long have you and Giana known each other."

Sometimes people aren't intelligent as they should be in crucial moments. Chris was fairly intelligent and had picked up on all of this but had automatically presumed that they were teasing in this way because of the signals he was letting off. This made him panic and stop talking.

Giana noticed this and thought that he had worked out what was going and this was why he wasn't talking to her.

They had rushed back to change quickly before going onto the club, still with no one talking honestly.

And then they had ended up in the club where it was too hot, crowded, loud, busy or alcohol fuelled to have a real conversation.

During the evening Giana had been taking Rebecca's advice and had pretending to be drunk but she definitely wasn't a good actress and it was more embarrassing than effective in getting Chris to like her.

Now they were outside the club walking away from the crowds that were still entering.

"Giana, you ok?"

She was smiling crazily at him, in what she imagined to be a slightly out of her face look but made her look like she was about to throw up.

"I'm fine," she smiled lazily and they began walking back to the flat, her leaning on him.

"Really?" Chris was sceptical, he was sure she wasn't drunk but then with the amount of alcohol? She had to be.

"Yes," she smiled again and fell slightly unused to walking on cobblestones in high heels.

"Woah easy there." He caught her.

Predictably she fell into his arms. "I really like you Chris." She had decided just to go for it.

"We're almost back home, I can see the door. Can you make it?" Chris was very concerned and guilty that she was this drunk.

She leaned into him further, "I really really like you."

Chris was right in front of her. She leaned into kiss him. And suddenly he dipped down and kissed her back and the evening made sense again.

Chris could now smell her breath and realised that he could not smell alcohol on her at all.

"Giana." He pushed her away slightly, her hand on his neck. "You're not drunk."

She pulled away from him and turned from him.

"I'm sorry, ok. I just didn't know what to do."

"What?" he whispered.

"I like you," she turned to him in anger but anger at herself. "I really like you and I have for ages but I couldn't talk to you about it and I knew it was stupid but I couldn't think of anything else to do. I'm sorry," her voice was quiet and she turned away from him ashamed.

Chris smiled a proper beamish smile. "Why?"

"What?"

"Why are you sorry?" he crossed the space between them in two large strides and took her face in his hands. "I like you too. I always have."

She looked up at him and they were kissing. And then they were kissing some more and reaching up into each other and opening the front door and leaning against the wall painting heavily and clutching at one another. And then they were on another door, falling and pushing and then they were on Giana's bed.

********

The hospital was nice and spacious. Well Lit. Actually Lizzie was so excited despite the fact that she was tired and needed a shower that merely because it was a building in New York it was amazing to her.

She had to stay at the hospital for most of the time and was sleeping there but they had got a hotel as well. Taking the cab, yes a yellow cab not a black taxi over to it Lizzie was in fits of glee at every passing spot.

Will watched her, enjoying New York as a secondary emotion, only thinking and feeling excitement about it after she had.

"The view is amazing isn't it?" she had turned and asked him but he had only noticed the view once she had.

"I don't know," he turned to her and looked at her. "I like this one better."

She smiled at this cheesy line but turned away slightly, "What time is it in England?"

"Uh let me see," he thought for a moment, "Morning, 9 I think."

"Ok."

*****

Chris turned to the woman beside him and smiled, widely.

She smiled back and snuck her hand forward snaking it on to his chest feeling the curves of his torso.

They both stayed like that for a moment smiling tentatively at each other and turning away from each other when there was a very shrill sound.

Had it been any other situation it would not have been described as a shrill sound; of all the ringtones he could have chosen Chris felt that it was actually quite respectable. It was just merely the sound of a phone ringing but it was the fact that it was interrupting this intimate situation. Especially when Chris rolled over out of the bed and pulled his phone out of his jean's pocket and saw who was ringing him.

"Shit, it's your brother," he turned his back to Giana who had been lying in bed lazily and suddenly sat up straight, eyes wide staring at him.

"You should answer it."

He turned away from her sitting on the edge of the bed and answered it, as he pushed the button grabbing his boxes that had been lying on the floor and struggling into them.

Georgiana had the same idea as Chris. As though her brother could instinctively hear through the phone that there was someone else in the room and that Will would realise that it was a women and in fact her, started to put her underwear on as though her brother would know that she was naked.

She felt horrifically nervous and wanted to crawl back under the duvet covers which right now to her felt like the only safe place in the world but realised she couldn't. She felt that she should leave the room and give Chris some privacy but also wasn't ready to face her roommates and was worried as what Chris might accidentally say.

Chris, now not totally naked, pressed the green phone symbol on his phone and answered, "Will?"

"Chris?"

"Yes?"

"Sorry, it's just you normally call me Darcy. Your voice sounds strange."

"Oh sorry," he coughed, "I think I'm getting a cold. I only just woke up."

"Really? Tut, tut Mr Bingley, I've been up hours."

Their conversation was rather friendly given the last time they had talked.

"I'm sorry." Will spoke quickly. "I mean about last time. I was just angry and frustrated and I hadn't slept very well and I didn't mean to lash out at you."

"That's ok." Chris was rather surprised that Darcy was apologising to him.

"No it's not but I just felt that I needed to say it. Actually Lizzie, we're both very grateful to you for suggesting it. When we get back we'd like to take you to dinner to thank you."

"Oh." Chris was unsure.

"We really would like to say thank you and see you properly. You can pick the restaurant, whatever. What do you say?"

"Sounds like a good idea to me."

"Great!" Will was very enthusiastic and Chris suspected that some of his guilt had been relieved. "We'll give you a call when we get back."

"Ok then. I talk to you later."

"Right, bye."

"Bye."

Chris stared at the phone in his hand. It had been a strange call, except it hadn't really, just come at a strange time. He left the phone by the floor on the floor by the edge of the bed. He'd had his back to Giana throughout this conversation. Now he swivelled round on the bed and turned to her, surprised to find that she was dressed in pyjamas with a dressing gown wrapped around her.

"I uh should get some drinks." She scurried to the door.

Chris sat there for a moment and then pulled on his clothes probably in one of the fastest times he had ever done so but not as fast as they had come off last night.

Georgiana took much longer than he had thought she would and then he realised that she was probably giving him time to dress.

She entered back, holding a tray with two glasses of orange juice on and mugs of coffee. "I wasn't sure which one you wanted."

Giana didn't really know the post coital etiquette and oddly still felt unsure about where the stood. "Uh, what did you want to do today." She turned from him and pulled her hair up.

"Talk." He came over to her. "Ok let's get to the point. I've been skirting around this issue and I'm just going to say it. Last night. I have no regrets whatsoever."

Giana held her breath and then smiled at him, "Me neither."

"Good."

And then he kissed her.

"See I was going to say we should do a repeat performance but I think that we should try to create a healthy and long lasting relationship not one,"

"Based on sex," Giana interrupted.

"Exactly."

"I don't know," She flopped down onto the bed and looked up at him. "I think we've known each other for a long time." She reached up and undid the buckle on his belt.

His eyes popped in surprise.

Her hand snaked up to his t-shirt.

"And I think," She added, "That what we don't actually know each other is in the more physical sense."

"Really?" Chris smiled.

"Really." And tugged on his t-shirt.

One of his last more coherent thoughts was that although he had always been a kind and loving brother Georgiana Darcy was completely different and far more confident. Which was good.

Giana much later as Chris was in the shower, felt acutely aware that she should not have done that and buried her head in her pillow.

Then she realised that there was no reason why she couldn't be more forward and confident with Chris, wouldn't that be what made their relationship special?

She wasn't always like this with him and later would be much shyer with him but perhaps it was all the tension, stress and waiting for answers that had caused this sudden attack of confidence.

William Darcy was a planner and an arranger. He had it all planned and all he needed now was to get Lizzie to agree with it without knowing that he was agreeing with her.

"I don't want to go," she was shaking her head like a young child. "If you want to go and see a film, go and see a film. I'm not going to hold you back."

The treatment had begun and had started to take its toll on Elizabeth.

"C'mon Elizabeth, it would be good to get out of here for awhile."

"I don't need to be told what to do and I don't want to go."

Will sighed, he needed to make sure that Elizabeth got to that cinema. "I just thought that it might be nice, for us to see some of New York."

"By sitting in a dark room, watching some crappy film that we've probably paid more to see than it would cost to buy on dvd?"

Lizzie bit the side of her cheek and wished she hadn't said that, it was just her head was pounding and she felt so nauseous. At least she didn't say what she was going to but Will managed to point that out all on his own.

"I know I've been at work all day but I did have a lot of things to sort out." It wasn't really work he had been sorting out.

"I know, I know. I knew you would have things to deal with."

"I'm sorry, but it needed to be done. What I'm saying is, why don't we spend time together now by going to see a film?"

"But it's not like we can talk in a film!"

"Well we don't have to go to see a film," mentally he was telling himself the opposite, "We could go and have dinner somewhere?"

"God no, eating is the last thing that I feel like doing."

He waited.

"I'm so tired. I think I should just lie down. You can go and see the film if you want to."

They both knew that he wouldn't do that. She lay on the bed and closed her eyes. Will turned and entered the hospital corridor.

After she was sure that he was gone, Lizzie peeked open an eye. She knew that she was being selfish but she did feel terrible and she reasoned, was ill.

Will didn't know what he could do. He supposed that he had better cancel it but what if she changed her mind?

"Don't worry, it'll pass. Everyone gets like this. We might try some medicine called Marinol which should help." A male nurse by the name of Zachary told Will.

"Can I try some of that?" Lizzie had made her way uneasily out of the door. Will went to her in alarm.

"Sure, it's worth a try and then maybe you two can go out tonight." Zachary was very encouraging in the way that a parent might behave towards a child.

Lizzie did not look convinced.

"The drug that we would try is known as Marinol."

"Marinol?" Will interjected recognizing the name. "Is that the drug that contains marijuana?"

"Yes it does contain traces off the leaf but it is completely legal and should help with the nausea and tiredness.

"I'll take it." Lizzie jumped at the opportunity. "That still doesn't mean I want to go out tonight." She turned to Will.

He sighed, but knew he couldn't force her to go no matter how much he needed to get her there.

**So we are very near the end! I was going to make this longer but I'm going to see family in about half an hour and I thought it was better to edit and put out something than nothing. **

**This has rather been dragging but I think there may only be two (ish) more chapters left. **

**Please review, lots of people have added GEM to their favourites or alerts and I would love to know what you are thinking. Thank you so much to everyone who has so far. **

**Happy New Year! Wishing you all the best of 2010.**

**Strange to think that a decade is over, I wonder what these years are going to be called, the teenies? Please, no. **

**For some reason I can't seem to get rid of the black line. **


	31. Always worrying

"Ok, you win."

"Sorry?"

"You win. Let's go and see this stupid film if it'll mean that you'll stop sulking."

Will's heart flipped slightly at hearing this.

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah, I feel a bit better and you've been miserable all day."

"Ok, I'll call a cab and make sure that there are still tickets."

Lizzie nodded and started to look for her scarf and her left glove. She didn't particularly want to go but it was clear that Will was desperate given the number of times he had mentioned it that day.

Twenty minutes later he returned and started to put on his coat.

"What are you doing?"

"Getting ready to go."

"We're going now? What because we're an eighty year old couple catching the early bird special?"

"I just thought that we'd better go before you start to feel ill. I don't think it's a good idea for you to be out to late. The medicine is tiring you out."

"Yes Dad."

"I'll choose to ignore that. Shall we go?"

"Fine."

She grabbed her coat and left. They got into the nearest cab and set off.

Lizzie wasn't sure of this fact but she suspected that, like London and the majority of cities in the western world, cinemas were pretty much a dime a dozen and yet they had been in this cab for a long time.

"Will?"

He was looking out of the window but turned to her, "Yes?"

"Where are we going? I mean haven't we passed cinemas by now?"

"Oh I booked us tickets in a specific cinema and it's quite a way away."

"Well why don't you just cancel them and we'll go somewhere nearer."

"Because Richard recommended this place and said that it was really special."

"A cinema?" Lizzie was sceptical.

"Look it'll be fine."

His tone was brusque and Lizzie decided to let the subject drop. What she didn't know was that he was telling himself that more than her.

Much later than she had thought even after Will had told her that it would be a while, they arrived at a tiny cinema which still used what she considered the rather old fashioned method of the letters that had to be placed up instead of the more commonly used electric methods.

The sign that had been put up was a film that Lizzie could honestly have said would have been the last thing that she'd expected Will to choose.

"Star Trek? You're taking me to see star trek! Are you freaking kidding me?" Lizzie was not amused partially due to the fact that vomit kept coming up into her mouth only to be swallowed down.

"It's supposed to be very good."

"Well I certainly have my doubts about that, but you do know that it's out on dvd? Charlie even has it on blue ray. If you wanted to see it couldn't you have gone for a boy's night out?"

"Charlie doesn't have it on blue ray. It's the original film."

She stepped away from him with a look in her eyes as though she had suddenly realised that she had made a terrible mistake.

"Will, are you a closet .... Trekkie? Cos I really don't think that I can date you anymore."

He smiled. "What terrible prejudices you have Miss Bennet. I've just heard that it's a good film."

Lizzie was not so amused. "You knew that I didn't want to go out tonight and yet when I agreed you choose the worst film known to man."

"Just give it a try; you never know you might like it. You can't say it's the worst film known to man if you haven't seen it. If I recall correctly you weren't all that fond of me to begin with."

"Don't try to be cute Will it's not going to work on me." She stormed into the cinema angry with him and herself. He shrugged his shoulders and followed her in.

She was trying to be unselfish but she really didn't have the energy to do so.

Will offered to buy pop corn despite the fact that he wasn't the biggest fan and had always reckoned that it had tasted like salty buttery polystyrene but Lizzie said she still felt sick and that the smell would bother her.

They walked into the cinema where Lizzie was surprised to see that even though the film was due to start within five minutes there was no one else in there. She was also surprised that Will didn't seem to care about this fact.

They talked briefly about New York and the things that they had seen there but they soon stopped talking when the sign for 'Other films you may enjoy'.

Lizzie had mentioned to Will the other week when they had been watching a dvd that she never liked to fast forward those trailers because occasionally they were better than the film and were her favourite part.

The first film trailer was some alien taking over the world type thing that Lizzie didn't particularly care for and the second one was some generic romantic comedy boy meets girl type thing.

Then there was a long pause and the screen went black.

Lizzie turned to Will curiously. He shrugged.

"Should we say something?"

"No, I'm sure it'll start in a second."

And it did.

There were the opening chords of the Beatles's 'Here comes the sun' and elaborate calligraphy style writing came up on the screen.

_There once was a girl_

An image of a young baby girl transferred onto the scene wearing a very fussy white dress with brown curls falling just past her shoulders

Lizzie could have sworn that she had been forced into a very similar outfit.

Then there was a photo of another young girl riding a tricycle.

_Who once met a boy_

There was an image of a young boy of about two years with dark hair.

Then there was him a few years older, coincidentally also on a bicycle.

Lizzie was surprised that the trailer was continuing in this fashion as it was unusual to have a trailer that was just images.

_The girl grew up to be talented_

An image flashed across the screen of the back of a girl's head holding a flute.

Lizzie blinked at the screen again; that was definitely her. By why would it be her? Maybe all of this medication was making her hallucinate.

_And beautiful _

There was a photo of her from her twenty first birthday party smiling directly at the camera.

Lizzie turned to Will in astonishment and started to stay something to him but he was just staring directly at the screen. She noticed that the corner of his mouth was twitching upwards slightly.

_And successful_

There was a photo taken from part of the very small book tour that she had gone on.

_And the boy fell in love with the girl_

There was a mildly blurred photo of Will at around the age of eighteen with a rather pathetic look on his face.

_And so he was rather unfortunately mean to her_

The photo that was now showing was Will at around the age of three with a miserable look on his face clearly in the middle of a strop.

The photo of Lizzie that had accompanied this was one that she wished had never been taken of her aged five with tears in her eyes.

_And for this he apologises_

Then there was what Lizzie would have described as an absolutely adorable photo of Will (not that she would have ever told him that) with his head tilted to the size and his large bright eyes shining at her.

She laughed.

_Eventually although who knows why she fell in love with him_

Then there was the photo that they both loved of the two of them at the Pemberley ball.

_Even then there were still problems_

Lizzie laughed at the photo of the restaurant that they had gone to on that disastrous date.

_But they managed to get through them_

There was a very recent photo of the two of them in Hyde Park in London.

_This is the story of a particular boy and girl_

Then there were sudden flashes of photos. Photos of Lizzie and her family, Lizzie growing up, Lizzie and Jane, Lizzie graduating from University, Lizzie and Chris fighting in the snow. Then there was Will and his parents and Will and his sister, with his cousins, at University, with Charlie and Chris all sorts of photos.

Finally what seemed like every image of the two of them together flashed up on the scene shrinking down to create a large picture of all the photos in the shape of a heart.

_And their future together_

This began to darken and Lizzie stared back at him in confusion when the screen went completely black before a close up of Will's face.

The camera shuddered slightly and zoomed out to show Will kneeling on one knee and suddenly he spoke into the camera

"Elizabeth Bennet, will you marry me?"

Lizzie gasped and felt her chest tighten slightly and then rushed from the room.

********

"Jane?"

She looked up and immediately started wiping her eyes as Charlie entered the room.

"I'm fine." She spoke early to avoid the fresh torrent of tears that would come if he asked her how she was.

"No you're not," He came and sat next to her, "But I'm absolutely positive Lizzie will be."

"Really?" She looked up at him in hope.

"Definitely." He kissed her on the forehead.

********

"And you sure she's ok? Even though she threw up?"

"Yes, Mr Darcy, nausea is a very common side effect."

"I'm sorry Will." She was lying in a bed and reached forward to clutch his arm.

"Why are you sorry?"

"Because it was so perfect and I ruined it."

"You didn't. It was perfect."

"I almost threw up on you."

"But you didn't although rushing from the room probably scared me more."

He turned to the doctor. "And everything's all right? Because she feels rather warm."

"She's fine. Actually I have some test results that I'd like to discuss with the two of you."

*******

Giana and Chris sat on the sofa staring at the switched off television.

"So we should tell your brother right? Sooner, rather than later?"

"Yes, I suppose so; don't want him finding out another way. Chuck us that phone."

"The phone? You're going to do it now, and by phone?"

"No I was going to email him. I think that'll just be easier and then I can think how I'll word it."

"Buh ba ba buh!"

"Excuse me?"

"It's a chicken. You're being a chicken."

"That's not what a chicken sounds like! That's crap."

"Oh and what does a chicken sound like, Miss Expert."

"I dunno, it's bah barh baba bah."

He laughed and she joined in.

"You're still being pathetic. Why don't you use the phone for its primary purpose of actually phoning people?"

"I'm not being pathetic. At least I'm the one who's phoning."

"He's your brother."

"And he's your friend."

"You know we're both avoiding the issue here?"

She sighed and reached for the phone, looked at the clock and then counted on her fingers and began dialling.

"Will, it's Georgiana."

Chris wished he could hear the other side of the conversation.

"Oh."

Long pause.

"Oh wow."

Shorter pause.

"That's great."

Pause.

"Really? Are the certain."

The smile on Georgiana's face grew bigger.

"Put Lizzie on."

Another pause whilst Chris made questioning looks at her to which she did not respond.

"Oh. But I did the maths."

"Ok sorry. Get her to ring me, doesn't matter what time. Congratulations. I'm so excited. I can't believe it, that's amazing."

She hung up.

Chris turned to her. "You didn't tell him."

"No," she said gleefully. "That's because Lizzie's had some really positive results back from the hospital."

"Seriously?"

"Yep, there pretty convinced that she's going to be ok. There's a waiting period obviously and then she'll have to wait for about four years to be classified as having got rid of it fully but yeah... It looks pretty good right now."

"That's brilliant."

"And they're engaged. Will proposed earlier."

"That's great."

"Yeah. They're going to keep treatment going for about a week but they should be home soon."

She smiled and he smiled back.

"I guess we're going to tell them in person."

*****

And they had done.

Two weeks later after checking absolutely sure and having another medicine to continue treatment they had all gone for dinner together and that was when the news had come out.

Will had been shocked and very little else for a very long time but Lizzie had laughed and smiled and said that she knew that it would happen all along.

Will had then turned to her in surprise and she had merely raised her eyebrows.

It hadn't been as uncomfortable as they had thought it would be except for the shock that Georgiana had when she went to hug Lizzie and a large chunk of her hair had fallen out.

Lizzie explained that this was happening as a result of the treatment and that it would probably continue to do so. She had sighed and claimed that she had always wondered what she would look like bald and neither of them had known how to react.

Will had kissed her and claimed that he would always love her no matter what she looked like.

But he still worried about how it was affecting her.

He worried when Chris pulled the chair out for Giana, that Chris was putting on some show for him and that he actually treated her incredibly badly.

Then he was worried when his judgement had become so bad.

Perhaps he would always worry.

He would worry when Lizzie was particularly tired after a day's work.

He would worry when she had a particularly bad bruise that seemed to have lasted a long time.

He would occasionally worry when she was quiet for a long time, staring away reflectively, worried as to what was stressing her; what she wasn't saying.

He would worry when other men smiled at her, worried that he wasn't enough for her.

But then she smiled at him and let him know that it was all going to be ok.

She reassured him that she did actually want to get married and knew that he hadn't asked her just in case.

She reassured him that she hadn't been affected by what Lady Catherine had said and that it didn't matter anyway.

She'd had a constant beam on her face and had been constantly touching him on his arm to reassure him throughout Jane's wedding that she was ok and having a good time and that he should just be a good best man for Charlie.

When they had received the photos of Georgiana and Chris travelling she had smiled and said that she was perfectly safe, Chris would look out for her.

At her own wedding she had deliberately ignored the tradition of the bride being late so as to avoid the panicked look on his face.

Yes, Will Darcy would always worry about her and Elizabeth would always have to reassure him.

But luckily Will Darcy would be able to worry about her for a long time to come.

**So Yay! This is the end. Well I'm going to add an epilogue because I am major sucker for them. Rather cheesy but happy. Please give a final boost of reviews before we get to the epilogue. Thank you so much to everyone who has been reading along. **

**I have started to write some new p and p stuff and was wondering which you would prefer. Hopefully I will start posting at around my birthday Jan 28****th**** but it is a crazy time of year. **

**So the options are (I'm not brilliant at summaries)**

**Belonging: Elizabeth Gardiner always knew that she was adopted but when both her adopted parents die she decides she needs to find out who her real parents are. Her father's name was apparently Charles Bingley. What will his son and his best friend Darcy think of this new addition to the family and what will she think of them? Watch as our favourite heroine struggles to find who she is and the difficulties she faces along the way especially the hostility from a certain someone. **

**The Student Experience. (title may change)**

**They are best friends and yet neither of them is sure why. She knows that he can be a complete arse and he knows that she just doesn't know how to have a good time. Yet they both need each other, mainly because she's unable to pay her rent and has moved in with him and he needs her to placate his mother. What will happen when she starts dating a 'complete arsehole named Wickham' and she realises, 'that Darcy's more of an arsehole than she had ever thought possible'. Just remember anything can and will happen to you as a student. **

**Aux Follies (title may change)**

**William Darcy knew Elizabeth Lizzie Bennet at school when she was organised and determined and just plain brilliant. She knew exactly what she was doing so why was she now running a failing coffee shop? And why did everyone refer to her as Elle? And what had he done to make everyone, including Jane Bennet hate him? Yet why didn't she seem to hate or blame him? **

**What she wants to know is what on earth has happened to the William Darcy she used to know? **

**I plan to get all of these written ideally before 2010 is up but I value your opinions. My major concerns are that a) they have been seen before and are rather cliché and b) they don't fit the traditional pride and prejudice story **

**Love to hear what you think**


	32. Epilogue 'Alls well that ends well'

There are many ways that you can learn something about a person without actually meeting them. Visiting their house is one of the key ways to do this. The books they own, the pictures and art that they have up, how the house is decorated.

Even the tiny details give something away. Like the films that they own.

The Darcy's films were organised within an inch of their plastic lives. Each organised section of the giant book case that was stretched across one wall contained a genre of films. Within that genre each film was organised alphabetically with one notable exception.

Next to the Classical film section there was a slight gap where a model of a carving of a face had been placed and then there was another section.

These were not like the other films in that they were all in white plastic boxes with small neatly printed labels on them.

The first read 'Proposal', the next 'Our engagement part', 'Our Wedding', 'Bits and Bobs', another two with dates written on and the last ones simply read 'Anna' and then 'James.'

Ever since a rather desperate Lizzie had given Will a camcorder as a birthday present it had become a permanent attachment to his hand at every event whether it was major or minor.

He'd wanted to catch every moment until Lizzie had pointed out to him that if his face was always stuck behind lenses then he wouldn't truly live each moment. In fact the camera had almost received more threats than Will had and had always been a present she had regretted giving.

The first threat was when eight songs into their engagement party, Lizzie still hadn't had a dance and found her husband to be interviewing people about news events that had happened that day she had grabbed the camera from him and held it precariously out the window unless he joined her on the dance floor.

He had grumbled and said wouldn't she want to have something to watch when they were eighty and she had responded that she would only watch it if it was worth watching and having Richard Fitzwilliam's thoughts on the fact that there had been a parliamentary debate was not what she called worthwhile. Especially as neither of them knew or cared about the debate.

"But it'll be interesting to see what other world events happened on this day."

"No it won't. But it will be fun for you to dance with me."

"Fine."

Lizzie leaned against his chest as they danced. She knew why he had been so grumpy recently. He had never wanted this engagement party on this date but had instead wanted a wedding.

It had been one of the worst fights they'd had when she'd insisted that it was all too soon to get married and that she wanted them to have a relatively long engagement and the date that he had so carefully chosen as being the perfect time of the weather and between their birthdays and other celebrations would do for two years time.

He had said that he didn't see the point in that.

She had responded in a particularly bad mood that she had known he would say that.

"Well if you know me so well then why would you think that I would be ok with this?"

"Can't you just see that I want to wait for awhile? I don't want to rush into anything."

"You don't want to rush into marriage, _our_ marriage?"

There was a long, hard pause whilst he looked at her. "Is this because you're not sure?"

"No," she's insisted but neither of them was convinced.

"Fine you know what, let's not do this now. I want you and I've always known that I've wanted you in my life forever so why don't you just give me a call when you're ready."

He'd stormed out and she had sat in the middle of her kitchen and cried.

It had been a week before the engagement party when Jane had popped round to show of the dress she had just purchased for the event to find her sister sitting in her own dress staring at the diamond ring in her hand.

Jane in an usual moment of forcefulness had kicked her out and told her to go talk to the 'silly boy who she was obviously madly in love with'.

Without changing out of her dress Lizzie had driven over and hammered down his door.

An extremely grumpy Will Darcy who was still clad in his pyjama bottoms answered the door.

"I'm scared." She had barely given him time to open the door the whole way. "I was scared when I said yes and at the time I thought it was the cancer I was afraid of. And then I never admitted it to myself but when you said the other day about dates and my mum mentioned dresses it all became so real."

She stepped in further into the apartment.

"I'm scared because I don't know if I'll be a good wife and then I might become a mother and that still terrifies me in the way that it did when I was fifteen. And I'm still not a year out of cancer and if something happens to me I don't know what to do because I really don't want to fight it again and all I do know is that I want to spend the rest of my life with you but I don't want anything to change and I know that things have to."

He went towards her and cupped her face in his hands. "I'm so glad that you explained everything."

Pretty soon neither of them were wearing either of their strange midday outfits.

He still wasn't fabulously happy at not getting his own way on the wedding a she was rather used to it and therefore prone to sulking and the camera caught that look at the engagement party.

The camera had also caught this same expression on his face eighteen months later at his own wedding. It had been a compromise between the two of them, Will couldn't arrange everything and Lizzie would get over her fears to get married sooner. Eventually they had both agreed on the date and arrangements and because of that it was perfect.

They'd had an official photographer and film made but had also encouraged friends and family to take their own photos and film clips. Charlie had hijacked their own camcorder after Lizzie again threatened the camera again stating that if every camera added ten pounds then she certainly wasn't having more than one on her.

"So brother in law, what's up?" Will was sitting in the corner with a not exactly joyful expression on his face considering that this was the happiest day of his life.

"Lizzie."

Charlie and the camera turned.

"Yeah she's looks very beautiful."

"She looks better than that."

"Well what's wrong then?" Charlie and Will turned back to each other.

"Look at her, she's always surrounded by people. I can't seem to get a minute alone with her and it's supposed to be our wedding day."

"Aww, is little Willy learning have to share." A voice, a female voice, joined them. "Well he could always ask me to dance."

"I think I will Mrs Darcy." He grabbed her hand and lead her onto the floor. "And later tonight I'll show you how wrong you are about 'little Willy'."

Will had also wanted to film, a week after they had arrived back from their honeymoon, the moving in to their new townhouse in London.

This had not worked well for Elizabeth as he had also insisted on carrying her over the threshold and it was either the camera or her that he was going to drop.

Needless to say in her eyes, she felt that he had made the wrong decision in choosing the camera.

Ultimately it hadn't worked out worse for him as this had started another conversation about what colour certain rooms would be painted and whether they would do it themselves or get people in.

Lizzie had won with warm colours painted by them as opposed to magnolia painted by hired decorators but this Will would claim many years later was only because he felt so guilty about the bruise on her hip from the doorframe.

Yes, thought Will as his eyes ran over the collection of their home videos most of them seemed to involve him losing an argument in some way or being hurt including the video of Anna being born where Lizzie had squeezed his hand so hard she had released blood. Or two years later, the video of James being born where Lizzie had threatened multiple times to divorce/murder him.

But nothing was going to go wrong today. He had already labelled the box and charged the camera, ready for action.

"You know." Lizzie came downstairs holding James. "If you carry on filming everything this way we're going to run out of space soon."

"We could always move."

"We're so not discussing this right now." Lizzie balanced James to her other hip. "I've got to make sure Anna's ready."

"We'd have plenty of room at Pemberley. And you always said that you wanted to raise the children in the countryside." He shrugged on his jacket.

"Anna's just started primary school here and I don't want you living in London five days a week so you can work. It's bad enough when you have go to New York."

"Fine, fine. Shall I go and see if Anna's ready?"

"Please." She turned away from her husband and towards her son, "We're going to see your sister be a tulip, won't that be fun Jamesy?"

Still smiling Will entered his daughter's bedroom heart melting slightly at the sight of his four year old who looked so like her mother in her little pink tutu ready to go off and dance her heart out in the chorus of the tulips. "Ready bean sprout?"

"Daddy," she turned to him in that terribly serious way that only a four year old can pull off, "I'm not a bean sprout, I'm a tulip."

"I know that but I've called you bean sprout since you were this big," he held his thumb and finger barely an inch apart. He wasn't sure on the details but maybe wearing the tutu for the car journey wasn't the best idea. "Are you sure you're supposed to be wearing your outfit already?"

"Yes." And she said this with such authority that he automatically believed her.

At that moment Lizzie, still balancing two year old James on her hip came up, "Anna Matilda Darcy what are you doing in your costume? Mrs Conway told you that you were getting changed there. C'mon into the clothes I put out for you."

Will gave a smile of sympathy as his daughter began to change he followed his wife, (was it weird that after all this time he still got a thrill from thinking that?), down the stairs.

Ten minutes later Anna flounced down the stairs still clutching onto her tutu.

"Okay are we ready to go?" Lizzie grabbed the keys and then picked up James who she had put on the floor whilst waiting for his sister, up.

"Yep." And Will swung his daughter high in the air and onto his shoulders.

"Daddy," she squealed in glee and tugged at his hair.

"And Uncle Chris is meeting us there?" Anna asked bouncing above them all alarmingly close to the ceiling.

"Yes Uncle Chris is going to record it so Grandma and Grandad can watch you perform as can Auntie Gee."

"Yay."

She was very excited and Lizzie who hadn't hated performing but had never looked for it and knew that her husband broke out in a cold sweat at the merest idea of doing a presentation wondered where this enthusiasm came from.

*******

The performance was good, luckily for the parents it wasn't just the beginners' dance class but also included some of the older children who had more expertise and quite a high skill level. Unfortunately though as with all sorts of amateur performing when you don't know those that are on stage it can quickly become dull.

"So I was thinking," Lizzie whispered to her husband. "Maybe we should move to Pemberley."

"What?" he turned to her and as he had spoken far louder than he had intended received an angry glare from the mother in front of him.

"Well it's such a beautiful house and it's where you grew up. I mean I'd always wished I'd had that, a permanent base. And I suppose you're right."

"I am?"

"It would be much nicer to raise them in the countryside and its pointless leaving a house like that empty and you know that I work better there."

Ever since her first visit there Lizzie had always found that the grand house had inspired her and a year into their marriage her first historical novel had been published to which a sequel had been recently written.

"Are you sure?" Will was very excited about this as this had always been an issue for them. Yes, it was true that they both wanted to live in Pemberley but it was a long way from London and Will needed to be there so much for work and Lizzie didn't want to be alone that they had both quickly realised that there was no point travelling back and forth all the time.

"I think there are a lot of details that need to be worked out."

"I've been thinking that maybe I should hire someone to help run the company, I mean I know that Richard wants a larger role and Georgiana might want to get involved. I wouldn't necessarily have to be in London that much, I could work from home a lot." He was in the giddy state that their daughter had been in forty minutes earlier.

She smiled at her husband's enthusiasm. "Yes, I know you're excited but we still need to think it through."

"Ok, ok. What would we do to the house, sell or keep?" They'd kept Will's apartment but sold Lizzie's when they'd moved in to the house as it made good financial sense.

"I thought," she glanced over to the back of the room where Chris was standing so that he could film it properly, having volunteered to do so after serious coercion from Lizzie so that Will would actually sit watching the show instead of fiddling with the zoom. "That we could give it to Chris and Georgiana as a wedding present."

Will smiled at her, "Yes, I suppose that would be fitting."

"Well we need to make arrangements because we both will still need to travel up here and I want Anna and James to be able to see their cousins often, that was something that I never got to do and I've always liked the close relationship you and Richard have."

"That's because Richard always flirts with you. Honestly the way you talk you make it sound like Derbyshire is in a different country! Charlie and Jane will be able to visit all the time with all the little Binglettes."

"It's just that Lauren and Anna are close and it would be nice for James to have an older brother influence in Luke." It seemed that Jane and Charlie had carried on the Bingley tradition with naming their children by naming them by one letter especially with the new baby on the way that Jane had confided in her sister, they were planning to name Louise.

"Yes, yes but we could always have another baby for James to be a big brother too."

"Nuh nuh, we'll have to make a decision, either I'm getting pregnant or we're moving. There is no way I can do both at the same time."

"Well I know that there's one option that we can practice for." He whispered suggestively in her ear.

"Shush you, Anna's about to come on."

And indeed the chorus of tulips was making their way across the stage. Will beamed with pride at the sight of his daughter spinning her way across the stage. He adjusted the weight of James who was sitting on his lap and reached to his side and grabbed Lizzie's hand, squeezing gently.

It didn't matter if they didn't have another child or didn't move, things were pretty damn perfect as they were.

**This really isn't the epilogue I had planned and isn't necessarily in typical epilogue fashion but I rewrote it 3 times and this is what stuck. I think I've found that most of the story seems to have been like that. **

**In other news Belonging should be coming out relatively soon. I say that now but I have a feeling that my school is trying to kill me with the amount of work set. **

**But now's not the time for that. I just wanted to say that you are all amazing and wonderful and hundreds of other adjectives and I had a lot so much fun writing this and receiving your reviews. **

**And yes, it's corny but I'm very tempted to write these words: The End. **


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